Dark Link's Quest
by AkuDemyfan
Summary: CaH Saga part 8. A new threat has come into Hyrule. As the quest to save the kingdom goes further new information about the dark Hylian is revealed. How trustworthy can a person be when he's having a connection with the threat? Even though the Hero of Time doesn't lose his trust in Dark, how will the rest of the kingdom react to the situation?
1. Darkness in danger

A/N: E**dited at 1.9.2013. Thanks to _Swamp Dragon Princess_ for the fixation.**

**Warning:** Very harsh start for the story but after the first chapter things will get better.

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 1: Darkness in danger

The summer night was thoroughly dark since the clouds were hiding the moon and stars. Two figures were walking through a small forest close to Castle of Hyrule. Other one of the two was limping badly while the other just leaned very heavily against the limping one.

"Come on, Link... Just keep walking..." Dark whispered desperately while dragging the Hero through the forest. The dark Hylian was badly bleeding and getting weaker whole time. Link was just barely conscious and stumbling forward while leaning against the darker Hylian.

"We're nearly there..." Dark continued but suddenly he gasped and crashed to the ground. He grit his teeth at the pain in his left leg that had given out on him. The dark Hylian had been fast to adjust Link so he didn't crash too badly to the ground.

"D-Dark..." Link whispered very quietly while trying to stay conscious. Dark took few fast deep breaths before adjusting the Hero all over again and forcing himself back to his feet. He continued the trek forward while desperately trying to keep Link awake.

Once the duo managed to get inside the castle, Dark started to call for help with weak voice. He kept dragging Link forward towards the Infirmary while praying for the help to come. "Someone... Anyone... _Please_... HEEELP!" Dark eventually screamed in hopes of someone hearing him. After few more steps he fell again to his knees while feeling very weak and out of breath.

The dark Hylian laid Link carefully down to the floor when he heard fast footsteps coming towards them. The first ones at the duo were few guards. "Help..." Dark whispered quietly but nearly screamed in pain when the guards pushed him off of the Hero. The dark Hylian crashed harshly to the ground and grit his teeth when he fell to his left side. Carefully he cradled his broken left arm while slowly opening his eyes.

Two guards took Link up and started to rush him towards the Infirmary. The third guard turned to face him and the dark Hylian definitely didn't like the look on the guard's face. The guard took a grip on Dark's tunic and pulled him up to his feet before slamming the dark Hylian's back to the wall.

Dark gasped and closed his eyes. The guard held him against the wall with his right arm while brining the left hand over the dark Hylian's throat. Dark shot his eyes open in fear when the guard started to choke him. He tried to fight back but he was way too weak to do anything.

"What in Hylia's name is going on in here?! Let him go on this instant!" The princess of Hyrule shouted when she came down to the hallway. The guard let go of his victim and backed off by few steps. Dark gasped and fell down to the ground quite harshly. He didn't have the strength to even try and get up.

Zelda turned her gaze several times from Dark to the guard and back. "Explain, _now_." She stated out sternly while crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the guard quite angrily. The guard bowed before her and pointed then to the dark Hylian.

"I saw the two of them fight and went between. The Hero has been rushed to the Infirmary." The guard stated as convincingly as he could. Dark wanted to argue and explain fully but he needed to concentrate into breathing. Zelda gasped in shock and stared at Dark with wide eyes for a short while before narrowing her eyes in anger.

"Throw him into jail..." She commanded coldly before turning her back to the scene and rushing towards the Infirmary. The guard nodded and bowed. Once the princess was out of the place, he smirked and turned towards the dark Hylian.

The guard crouched down next to Dark. "This is going to be lot of fun..." He whispered quietly before already taking firm and very tight grip on Dark's broken arm. The dark Hylian cried out in pain and shut his eyes tightly when the guard pulled him up again. The guard forced the broken arm behind Dark's back and twisted it a bit to get another pained cry out of the dark Hylian. After that the guard started to push him forward towards the prisons.

The guard threw Dark into the prison but before he let go of the dark Hylian's arm, he gave a harsh kick into the prisoner's abdomen. Dark gasped in agony while crashing very hard into the floor of the jail. The guard slammed the door shut and left the place while chuckling evilly.

Dark laid on the ground while trying to will the pain away. He slowly moved his broken arm to a better position and carefully laid to his back. Very slowly the pain started to vanish and the dark Hylian sat up. He tore several long pieces from the tunic and started to bandage the still bleeding wounds around his body. After that he grit his teeth while taking a tight grip on his arm and forcefully pulling the broken bones to their places. The pain nearly got him to pass out but Dark wasn't ready yet. He checked his left leg and was fully relieved to realize that it was only having a hairline fracture instead of being fully broken. Once he had checked the worst of the wounds, the dark Hylian laid down and fell unconscious on the floor.

Dark woke up harshly by someone kicking him into his side. The dark Hylian gasped and slowly opened his eyes. "Seems like you're not dead yet." The guard stated smirking. Dark gulped but didn't do a thing to move. The smirk on the guard's face widened and he reached down to pull the dark Hylian up.

The guard forced him to walk out of the jail. Right behind the bars were two other guards. They didn't seem as hostile as the guy behind the dark Hylian but Dark wasn't going to count on that too much. The duo had their arms crossed over their chests while checking Dark from head to toes.

Before Dark had even one second to think about his chances to escape, the one behind him kicked him straight to his left leg. The dark Hylian nearly screamed while crashing to the ground. He caught himself with both of his hands but grit his teeth from pain and fell to his left side when his left arm gave under him. The only thing Dark was glad of was the fact that the kick hadn't broken his left leg fully. "And I thought someone claimed you to be as good as the Hero..." The guard stated mockingly.

Dark had lot of words in his mind but stayed silent. Instead he just glared at the guy with pain filled eyes. "Let's see how much this freak _can_ take." The guard continued and once again forced the dark Hylian up and slammed his back against the bars. Dark closed his eyes and grit his teeth while waiting for the pain to come.

The two other guards just stood there and watched while the third beat the dark Hylian. After eternity felt time the guard backed off and let Dark crash to the ground. The guard just kept laughing while his victim slowly pushed himself to a sitting position. "Is that all you can do?" The dark Hylian asked bit angrily while glaring at the guard.

The guard smirked and shook his head. "No." He answered and kicked Dark straight at the head. The ex-shadow hit his head backwards against the bars by the force of the kick and fell unconscious on the floor. "But that is for now." The leader guard continued and nodded to the guard on his left. The younger guy nodded back and dragged the unconscious victim back into the jail.

Dark woke up with a harsh headache. He carefully pushed himself up to a sitting position before starting to cough out blood. He was shivering while feeling sick and weak. _"When Link wakes up, I'll get out of here... I hope..."_ Dark thought while trying to calm down and get ready for whatever the day was going to bring forth. The dark Hylian closed his eyes and slumped when he heard footsteps coming towards the jail.

"Nice to know that you're awake already..." The guard stated cruelly. Dark gulped once but stayed silent while keeping his eyes closed. "Take him out of there." The guard commanded. The dark Hylian grit his teeth and waited for the pain to start.

The two other guards came into the jail. First one stayed at the door while the second one came to Dark. He glanced once very swiftly at the guard behind the bars before taking a grip on the dark Hylian's arm and bringing it behind his back. The guard stayed bit on the other guy's line of sight, so the leader of the trio didn't see Dark's confusion of not feeling any pain.

"Can you fake to feel pain?" The guard asked very quietly from the dark Hylian. Dark blinked few times but nodded then. "Good. I hope your acting skills are worthy." The guard continued while pulling his 'victim' up. The dark Hylian took once a deep breath and started to fake the feeling of pain. The guard was bit taken aback about how convincing the acting was. "Wow, you're good. I just hope I'm not really hurting you." He whispered bit awed.

Once they were outside the jail, the leader guard took a grip on Dark's tunic and harshly pulled him off of the other guard's grip. The dark Hylian was once again slammed against the bars of the jail before being dragged forward in the hallway. Dark stumbled after him while desperately trying to stay on his feet. The two other guards followed bit worriedly after their leader.

Eventually they stopped walking. The leader guard twisted Dark's broken arm behind his back again and kicked him to his knees. The dark Hylian gasped in pure pain before gritting his teeth and closing his eyes. "Let's see what your arm thinks about this..." The guard whispered and kept increasing the pressure in the broken arm until it broke all over again.

Dark shot his eyes open in agony while inhaling sharply. The guard laughed while letting go of the broken arm and the dark Hylian slumped in pain and fear. Yet, very soon the guard forced his victim back up and slammed against the closest wall. This time he went against the working arm and twisted it behind Dark's back very harshly.

It was then that Zelda came down. "What is going on in here?!" She shouted out in shock. The guard backed off from Dark and let him fall to the ground. The dark Hylian held his broken arm while slumping and waiting for the guard to come up with a new excuse for his actions.

"Your Highness... We..." The guard started and glanced at his two comrades. The princess waited for an answer but the guard hadn't waited for her to come down and walk into the scene. He truly was at loss of words.

Dark took once a deep breath. "Your Highness, I asked to be let for a walk and... Well, I tried to run away..." He stated out as calmly as he could without glancing at her.

Zelda frowned at the given answer. _"With a broken leg? I really don't think him to be so stupid as to try and run with a broken leg. He barely can walk!"_ She thought but couldn't prove her fears. "Just take him back to the jail." The princess commanded and stood there until the guards took Dark up and started to head back to the jail. Zelda would've loved to follow and see what truly was going on but she didn't have the time. The princess had only come to check the noise while heading to the Infirmary.

The leading guard threw the dark Hylian back into the jail while seething with rage. "You lucky bastard..." He mumbled before walking away from there. Dark sighed in relief and tried to calm down while starting to try and fix the newly broken arm again.

At the next day the guard came alone into the prison. Dark stayed put and waited for the guard start to torture him again. But that didn't happen. Instead, the guard had news for him. "The Hero of Hyrule died last night." He stated before walking away.

Dark was fully bewildered about the information. His eyes shot wide open in mix of feelings with fear and shock of the news being the strongest ones. "No..." The dark Hylian whispered while starting to breath fast and shakily before fully breaking down. "No...no... It can't... I... I thought..." Dark continued quietly. "_NOOOO! IT'S A LIE! IT HAS TO BE!_ I did all I could to protect him! I took the strikes, I stood between him and the monsters, I brought him back to here... Link can't be dead!_ HE CAN'T BE DEAD!_" The dark Hylian screamed while crying.

Dark stood up without caring about the pain in his leg. He started to hit the closest wall with all his strength while screaming out his pain of losing the only friend he ever had had. After most of his strength had been used, the dark Hylian just slumped into the ground while crying. _"There's no reason for me to live anymore. With the lie from the guard I'm certainly going to be dead anyways... Oh dear goddesses... Link..."_

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A/N: I'm really sorry for harsh start.

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story.  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)

P.S. If you guys think this should actually be rated M because of the first chapter, then tell me. Otherwise I'll keep the raiting on T.


	2. Found

A/N:

So, here we have the second chapter of Dark Link's Quest! Enjoy! =D

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 2: Found

Link woke up in the Infirmary with a start. "_Dark!_" He shouted out while sitting up in fear. The Hero was breathing fast and bit shakily while his eyes were wide with shock.

"Link! Thank goddesses you're awake!" Zelda shouted out while going to hug him. "I was so worried about you. How are you feeling?" She continued and was quite startled when Link pulled free from her embrace.

"Where's Dark?!" The Hero questioned straight off while turning around to face her. "Is he alright?" He continued worriedly. Zelda sighed, slumped and dropped her gaze down to the bed.

"I'm sorry but he's dead." She replied quietly. Link inhaled sharply while standing up from the bed and backing off few steps. He shook his head.

"No... Y-you're lying..." The Hero whispered, closed his eyes and turned his hands into fists while shaking slightly. "YOU'RE LYING! I'D KNOW IF HE WAS DEAD!" Link screamed and slammed both of his hands against the bed right in front of the princess. "_Tell me the truth, Zelda._" He continued with cold voice and stern look in his eyes.

Zelda recoiled backwards by the shock of Link's behavior. She had never seen or heard the Hero like this and it freaked her out. The princess gulped once before taking a deep breath. "...He's at the jail..." She whispered quietly. The next thing Zelda heard was Link's running footsteps and slamming of the door which got her to flinch.

Link ran as fast as he could. He remembered way too well the condition the dark Hylian had been in when the Hero had last seen him. _"Oh dear goddesses, _please_, let him be okay..."_ He thought while nearly jumping the stairs down three at a time and almost crashing to walls while taking sharp turns on the corners.

"DARK!" Link called straight off when he got to the right floor. He kept calling the dark Hylian's name over and over again while nearly running through the corridors in search of the right jail. Suddenly he saw three guards in front of one of the jails. Link's eyes narrowed in anger. _"Either they can tell me where to find Dark or then they're responsible for Dark to be in here..."_

The closer the Hero got to the jail, the clearer it was that Dark was in there. "_DARK!_" Link screamed in fear when he saw the darker Hylian. The three guards backed off of the way in bit of surprise. "Open the door on this instant or I'll break it!" The Hero shouted out his command. The closest guard came bit shakily to the door and opened it as fast as he could.

On the second the door was unlocked, Link rushed inside the jail. He ran straight to the unconscious darker Hylian while calling his name over and over again. Dark didn't move but the Hero could easily see that the dark Hylian was in worse condition than what he had last seen. And to make matters worse, he was having a high fever too.

"What the hell has happened in here?!" Link shouted in anger. The guards took few steps backwards but unlike the two others, the leader met the Hero's gaze without fear.

"We don't know. We just came to check on here and thought him to be asleep." The guard stated with a shrug. Link narrowed his eyes at him but didn't say a word. Instead he turned his notion back to Dark and carefully took him up from the cold prison floor.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Link screamed while starting to rush back to the Infirmary with Dark in his arms. One of the three guards left after the Hero in hopes of being able to help. The leader of the trio just shrugged while heading the other way out of there. The third guard followed his leader after once glancing worriedly at the way Link had gone to.

Zelda had went to open the door to the Infirmary after calming down from the slight fight like conversation she had had with Link. After that she went to the doctor and told to be waiting for the dark Hylian to come into there. The doctor didn't ask even slightest bit of why Dark hadn't been in the Infirmary with Link in the first place but instead he got things ready. As far as the princess knew, there was going to be healing of broken bones and several bad wounds.

If it wasn't for the guard following him, Link would've thoroughly crashed against the closed doors to open them in his hurry while still being careful not to hurt Dark. Once they got into the Infirmary, the Hero laid the darker Hylian very carefully into the bed before screaming for the doctor.

"No need to shout. I'm already here." The doctor stated while standing up from his place and going to the bed. Link was bit startled but he sighed in relief and backed off to let the doctor check the darker Hylian. On the second he realized what was going on with his patient, the doctor threw Link out. "OUT. _NOW!_" He shouted and nearly pushed the Hero through the open door and slammed it shut right after that.

Link was thoroughly terrified at that moment. He would've wanted to stay in the room for Dark's sake but knew that the doctor needed the space and Link would've just been on the way. The Hero tried to stay in one piece while starting to pace behind the closed door and pray for the best. _"Who the hell has hurt him? And who threw him into jail?"_ Link wondered in fear while trying to get his mind away from the worry for the darker Hylian's condition.

The guard had left the place on the second the doctor started to talk. He truly didn't want to be around when the Hero would take his anger and worry out on someone. And he needed to meet up with his friend to talk about few very important matters.

Link was still pacing behind the closed door when Zelda came to there. "Link..." She called quietly. The Hero stopped his pacing and turned to look at her. On the second he got her in his sight, Link narrowed his eyes in anger.

"Why in the Goddesses names did you throw him into jail?!" Link screamed in fury. Zelda recoiled backwards in shock.

"I... I was..." She started but sighed then. The princess took once a deep breath to calm herself down before meeting the Hero's gaze as calmly and confidently as possible. "I was informed that the two of you had been fighting." Zelda eventually stated out.

Link was startled but very soon he narrowed his eyes again. "Well, you were _lied_ to, _princess_." He replied while seething with rage. "The two of us would never fight like that. I thought Dark had proved well enough to be no threat to me, you or to Hyrule. And for your knowledge, _Zelda_, we were coming back from the mission you send us into." The Hero stated out while crossing his arms over his chest.

Zelda was just going to open her mouth and say something, but Link wasn't ready. "And it should've been _Dark_ at the Infirmary instead of me! _He_ took most of the fight! _He_ stood between me and the monsters even though he fucking well knows that I can fight for myself! _He_ dragged me back home even though it should've been _him_ who needed the help and not me! And...!" The Hero grit his teeth while turning his hands into fists. "And... He might not make through of this..." Link whispered quietly while closing his eyes tightly and slumped a bit. "And if he doesn't survive from this, you'd better know that I'll hold you partly responsible for his fate." He continued in a hiss while opening his eyes and glaring at her.

Zelda stared at Link with wide eyes. The Hero fought not to break down and tried to cool off. "I found him unconscious from the jail. He's having a fever and I don't know if it's because he's sick or because his wounds have been infected or... And that's not even all... He's been beaten up... At here, at the castle." Link continued, closed his eyes for a while before opening them and staring at the floor but during the last sentence he raised his gaze back to meet hers.

Zelda gasped in shock and brought her hand over her mouth. Link sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. He glanced once at Zelda but narrowed his eyes right at the sight. "You know something..." The Hero stated bit coldly.

Zelda gulped once. "I... I'm not sure what I saw but I might have a good guess of who is responsible for Dark's condition." She answered bit hesitantly. Link nodded.

"Those three guards." He replied. Zelda was bit surprised but she nodded. "Saw them at the jail. Two out of three were fearful about me but that third guy... I gotta say I don't like him at all..." Link continued bit angrily. Zelda nodded again in agreement.

Suddenly the door to the Infirmary opened. Link shot to his feet from leaning against the wall and took very fast those few steps that were needed to get to the door. The doctor came out and before he managed to close the door, the Hero was already questioning him: "How is he? Will he survive?!"

The doctor was bit taken aback and leaned against the door. "Calm down, Link." He stated but knew that those words went right past the Hero. The doctor sighed and calmed down while Link kept repeating his questions. "He will get through this." The doctor started and was quite taken aback when Link sighed and crashed to his knees in relief.

"Thank the goddesses... Thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" The Hero nearly shouted and looked up to the doctor. "Can I go to see him? _Please_?" Link continued straight off and stood up while nearly showing puppy-dog-eyes at the doctor.

The doctor blinked few times in near bewilderment before sighing. "In a minute, Link..." He started and rubbed his forehead because of starting of a headache. Link slumped a bit about the answer but waited for the doctor to continue. "You are _not _to bother him on any of way. You have _no _rights to make yourself known to him. He needs rest and once he _does_ wake up, make sure he'll stay at the bed. The blood loss has made him very weak. And his broken arm and badly fractured leg _do_ need time to heal. Which means about two weeks to a month or so." The doctor stated out very strictly and looked sternly at the Hero. "_Understood_?" He eventually asked.

Link nodded nearly constantly while listening. The doctor stared at the Hero for a while longer before finally moving away from the door. "Remember my words, _Hero_." He stated before letting Link through. Link just nodded again and slipped inside the Infirmary very swiftly and very quietly. The doctor watched from the door how the Hero nearly sneaked through the room as silently as possible and sat down to the chair that was closest to the bed. The doctor sighed and quietly closed the door while shaking his head.

"Dark will survive, right?" Zelda asked quietly from the doctor. The doctor sighed but nodded.

"He will but it certainly wasn't any of easy feature to get done. He barely was awake when I got him to drink the potion. Even though he's very weak, he still fought back. And I don't understand why he did that." The doctor replied sadly. "It felt a bit like he didn't want to heal... Like he would've wanted to die..." He continued in worry and confusion. The doctor sighed and shook his head. "I need to go and get some rest... So far he has been one of the hardest patients to heal..." He mumbled while leaving the place towards his own room which was very close to the Infirmary just in case.

Zelda nodded slowly while starting to think about the given information. She stood on her place for a long while. Eventually the princess sighed, glanced once at the closed door and left then to handle some of the important tasks.

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A/N: Sorry for short chapters so far. But, don't worry... The further we get, the longer the chapters become! XD Also, I have decided to update this story at every Saturday... Unless something comes up to stop me. -.-'

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story.  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	3. Awake and in trouble

A/N:

I have to do a surprise page attack since if all goes according to plans, I won't be on my PC at Saturday. But, here's the next chapter! =D

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Duskinator! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 3: Awake and in trouble

_"Someone's playing with my hair... Never felt that before... But I like it..."_

Dark opened his eyes very slowly. He was feeling thoroughly weak and the light, even though very dim, was slightly dazzling. The dark Hylian took few deep breaths while getting his eyesight clear. It took him a while to realize what he was actually seeing.

Link was sitting on the bed next to Dark. His right hand was in Dark's hair and twirling some of black hair in his fingers. The Hero's left leg was on the bed quite close to his chest and he was leaning his left hand at the knee while holding a book in the said hand. Link wasn't fully reading but it gave him something to do while waiting for Dark to wake up.

Dark blinked few times in slight confusion. "L-Link...?" He called weakly. The swirling of hair stopped and the book Link was holding was shut off while slipping off of the knee. The Hero blinked few times while turning around to see the darker Hylian.

On the second Link saw Dark's red eyes, the Hero smiled widely. "Dark!" He called happily. "You really don't know how happy I am to see you awake!" Link continued but that was as far as he could get.

Dark ignored his body's command of staying put and just shot forward towards Link. He hugged the Hero tightly while keeping his broken left arm between the two of them. "Am... Am I... Am I dead?" He whispered while crying.

Link was thoroughly taken off guard. He returned the hug before nearly forcing the darker Hylian back down to the bed. "No, you silly. You're not dead." The Hero stated with a slight lopsided smile. Dark blinked few times in confusion. Link chuckled slightly and shook his head while brushing the tears away from Dark's face.

Dark was just going to ask the next question but Link brought his finger over his lips. "And neither am I." The Hero stated carefully. The dark Hylian sighed and relaxed fully. "Why would you even think about such?" Link asked bit puzzled.

Dark nearly flinched and slumped fully. "I... I thought..." He mumbled quietly while avoiding to look Link straight in the eyes.

"Thought what?" Link asked worriedly. Dark sighed and closed his eyes sadly.

"I thought you were dead..." The dark Hylian replied quietly. Link frowned fully at that reply.

"Why in Goddesses names would you think that?" The Hero asked thoroughly confused and bit worried. Dark just shrugged without meeting Link's gaze. "Dark? Who claimed that I was dead?" Link continued while frowning even more. Dark gulped and slumped again. "Was it those three guards?" The Hero continued his questioning. If any possibilities, Dark slumped even more which was enough of an answer for Link.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Link sighed because he still had lots of questions to ask from the dark Hylian. The door opened after the knocking and the princess of Hyrule walked in. The Hero sighed again and turned his gaze off of her which only got Dark to frown in confusion.

Zelda ignored fully Link's way of acting and walked straight to the bed. "Dark." She started carefully while sitting down to the bed to the dark Hylian's other side. Link half glared at her but stayed silent. "I am thoroughly sorry for what happened. There was no rights to throw you into jail. Please forgive me." The princess said and slightly bowed her head in shame.

Dark blinked few times in surprise and glanced at Link. The Hero had already turned his gaze off but he didn't meet the darker Hylian's gaze either. "Um... You just did what you looked to be right... Your Highness..." Dark answered bit uncertainly.

"And yet I chose wrongly." Zelda continued with a sad sigh. "Those three guards will be punished for what they did." She continued while raising her gaze to meet Dark's eyes. The dark Hylian slumped once again and turned his gaze off slightly ashamed about the situation.

_"She hates me so why is she trying to do things right? And why is Link angry with her?"_ Dark thought sadly while trying to figure out what to answer to the princess' words. "I... Um..." The dark Hylian started before sighing sadly. "I don't want them to be punished." He eventually mumbled.

Both Link and Zelda were startled about Dark's words. "But they hurt you!" The Hero shouted in slight anger and got the dark Hylian to flinch. Link flinched too while dropping his gaze down. "I'm not going to let them get away with that..." He continued and glanced once at Dark.

Dark sighed and shook his head. "It's not _they_, it's—" He started but cut himself short when he realized what he was actually saying. "Just forget it... It doesn't—" Dark continued but this time Link was the one to cut him off.

"Don't you dare say it doesn't matter!" The Hero shouted at him. "If it doesn't matter to you, it certainly matters to _me_! And I am _NOT_ going to let them walk away with hurting you!" Link continued furiously.

Dark slumped fully and closed his eyes tightly. _"He's mad at me..."_ He thought while waiting for Link's reaction in fear.

Link blinked few times in pure shock. The dark Hylian's reaction was something he had _not_ waited for. There had been few situations in Link's life that he had seen such reaction and it worried him fully. _"Is he waiting for me to _hit_ him?"_ The Hero thought in near panic. "...Dark?" Link eventually called worriedly.

Dark flinched and fought back against the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. Zelda stared in pure shock at the dark Hylian. This certainly was something she had never thought to witness, especially not by Dark. _"Oh dear goddesses... What has he lived through?"_ The princess thought worriedly while actually having a wish to hug the now slightly shaking dark Hylian.

Link sighed sadly and moved carefully on the bed. Dark flinched again while shaking out of fear and crying. The Hero came right next to him and very carefully hugged him. "There's nothing to be scared about, Dark. I'll never hurt you. And you should know that by now." Link whispered quietly.

Dark sighed while slightly relaxing in Link's arms. He gave a small nod before wiping the tears off. "I know... It's just..." The dark Hylian whispered and sighed then. "You could say it's an old habit... I guess..." Dark mumbled while staring at the bed.

Link sighed and nodded while pulling off. He really wanted to ask what Dark was meaning by his words but decided to leave it for later inquiring. The dark Hylian had been going through way too much already so calming down from it all would be in order. "So... How about we'd leave the topic off for the time being and concentrate to something different?" Link eventually asked and reached to the book he had been going through earlier. Once he got it into his hands, the Hero laid down next to the darker Hylian.

Dark frowned a bit but stayed silent. The Hero brought the book in front of the two of them and opened it from the start which ended up being the index page of the book. "So, pick a topic that's most interesting one." Link stated with a slight smile.

Dark chuckled a bit while finally relaxing fully. He skimmed through the topics and eventually chose one of them. Link turned the pages to find the right place and while the duo started to go through the book, Zelda left the room very quietly.

The time went past quite fast. Link started to have bit of hard time of keeping the darker Hylian in the bed but so far he had managed to more or less to bribe him to stay in the bed. Dark really wanted to get off of the bed but orders were what they were.

It was middle of the night and the dark Hylian just couldn't sleep. Link had fallen asleep hours ago while Dark had just faked it. The reason for it was the fact that the Hero hadn't slept much while looking after the darker Hylian and Dark just couldn't let that go on anymore.

Dark got off of the bed very carefully and quietly. He didn't want to wake Link up but he didn't want to stay at the bed either. _"I've been trapped to one place for way too long..."_ Dark thought while silently slipping out of the room and into the corridors. He checked both ways before starting to walk down the hall quite slowly since his left leg was still slightly healing and he hadn't been walking for two weeks or so.

The silent castle slightly worried the dark Hylian. He knew that no-one was up at that time of the night but he hadn't gotten used to the quietness during the night. Dark was grateful of being able to sleep through the nights but there were times like this when he just couldn't sleep.

Dark jumped at nearly every little sound he heard. _"Should I get back into the Infirmary?"_ He wondered but kept on walking forward. _"Maybe bit of fresh air could do some good... I probably should've taken Link along after all..."_ The dark Hylian thought while getting even more scared the further he walked. Something just didn't feel right and he was just going to turn around and head back when that _something_ came at him.

"Well, well, well... Didn't think I'd have the luck of crashing up with you anymore." Someone stated out quite cruelly. Dark stopped dead on his tracks and gulped without having the courage of turning around to face the guy. "Since you've had time to heal this'll be even more fun than before..." The leader guard continued while starting to walk closer.

Dark was frozen by the fear. He truly wanted to run away but instead he just closed his eyes and waited. The two other guards came in front of him while the third stayed behind. "So, _freak_, what's your plan of reviving Ganondorf?" The guard asked cruelly.

Dark was bewildered about the accusation and he opened his eyes in a flash before turning around. "Reviving Ganondorf? _Are you out of your mind_?!" The dark Hylian shouted furiously. "I would never follow that bastard and there is no freaking chances that _I'd_ revive him!" He continued angrily.

The guard was bit taken aback about the outburst but very soon he started to laugh. "Oh, come on! You're he's follower! What else can I wait from you, huh?" The guard replied nonchalantly while chuckling. "You might fool the Hero and the princess but you can't fool me with your little show." He continued while crossing his arms over his chest.

Dark narrowed his eyes but grinned quite soon. "How can _I_ be sure that _you_ won't try and revive Ganondorf, hmm?" He countered smugly. The guard narrowed his eyes in anger and took a step forward. The dark Hylian stood his ground and waited but his confidence and courage were already running out.

Zelda couldn't sleep either at that night. Unlike the dark Hylian, she enjoyed the quietness of the castle. The princess often snuck around the castle during the night just for the stillness of the night and silence of the whole place. And so she was just quietly walking through the corridors when she heard voices. Interested to know who was up at that time of the night with her, Zelda went to investigate.

The closer she got to the place, the better she managed to recognize the voices. The first worrying thing was to realize that Dark was up and walking around without Link. The next was to hear the guard's cruel and very angry voice.

"_How dare you suggest something like that_!" The guard sneered in rage. "You'll pay for your words..." He continued while taking a grip of Dark's tunic and pulling him forward.

"If you would've gone through what I did, you'd hate him even more..." The dark Hylian stated equally angrily in a whisper. The guard's eyes flashed with slight shock but right after that he narrowed them again and punched Dark very harshly.

Dark gasped at the hit. The guard had let go of him so the dark Hylian crashed to the floor. The guard laughed. "You really think you can fool me off with something like that, huh? _Idiot_." He stated while shaking his head.

Dark sighed and stood back up. He was just going to say something when a flying blue ball caught his notion. It flew right at him and crashed into the dark Hylian's face. Dark gasped and recoiled backwards but managed to catch the blue ball from falling to ground. "The heck?" He asked very confused.

The blue ball shook a little before giving out very girly scream and jumping up into midair. Dark and the guards stared at the blue ball quite startled. Suddenly the dark Hylian narrowed his eyes. "Navi, right? You used to be with Link, am I right?" He asked carefully.

The blue ball came down to the dark Hylian's eyelevel and bounced few times up and down. "And you are the guy from the Water Temple whom Link fought with... But there's something different about you... You're not having that evilish aura around you anymore... Which is strange..." The blue ball stated carefully.

Dark sighed bit relieved. "What are you actually doing in here?" He asked calmly with a slight smile. Navi looked around her before giving a slight sigh.

"I'm actually searching for Link." The fairy replied bit sadly. "But I don't know where to find him... Would you have any ideas where to search from since the castle's so huge." She continued nicely.

Dark nodded. "Try the Infirmary—" He started but had to stop talking when Navi gave out a shilling shriek.

"_Infirmary_! What in goddesses names has happened to him?!" She screamed in pure worry while flying around without being able to stay put. Dark blinked few times while hoping his hearing hadn't been damaged by that scream.

"If you would've listened to end I would've told you that he's okay and not in there because he'd be hurt or sick." Dark replied after his ears stopped ringing. "I'm the one who's actually hurt and Link has just kept me bit of company at there." He continued since he was sure that the fairy was looking thoroughly confused at the moment.

Navi sighed in relief. "Good." She replied and without any other words, she left to fly towards the Infirmary. Yet, she stopped right off after the first corridor when she nearly crashed with the Hero. Link showed to her to be thoroughly silent. The fairy was happy to see Link again and without second thought she hid underneath Link's hat once again.

From her safe place she started to explain her reason for searching Link. "The Great Deku Tree Sapling wants to see both you _and_ that dark Hylian. He's saying it's urgent." The fairy stated. Link nodded but didn't answer to her words. Instead, the Hero was desperately listening to what was going on in the corridor.

The Hero had woken up about half an hour after the dark Hylian had left the room. He had freaked out at first to find the bed empty but had waited for about ten minutes in case he was just gone to bathroom before leaving to search for Dark. The corridors had been very quiet but after fifteen minutes of searching he eventually heard talking. Bit fearfully and worried for the darker Hylian's safety, Link had gone to investigate. And he definitely didn't like where the current conversation was going towards. He needed to figure out a way to salvage the situation before Dark would get hurt... But how?

"Even if the Hero's _fairy_ states that you're not _evil_ doesn't mean that you wouldn't be up and about for something wrong." The guard stated bit angrily. Dark just shrugged.

"Well, that's your choice. There doesn't seem to be any of way to prove you wrong." The dark Hylian replied nearly nonchalantly. He had caught his confidence back after talking with Navi. Since she claimed him not to have evil aura around him, it was good enough proof for Dark.

Suddenly they heard quite a confident and bit of a commanding voice stating out one simple question: "How about truly proving who's good and who's evil?" All four turned around bit startled after hearing the Hero of Hyrule's voice. Link walked to them while drawing out his Master Sword. "As anyone and everyone knows, Master Sword can easily tell off who's a threat to Hyrule. If you want to prove your worth, then try and touch the sword." The Hero stated while offering the hilt towards the group.

Dark grinned and nodded after recovering from the first surprise and slight worry of Link actually being mad at him for having left without a word. "That seems to be a good idea." He replied while coming to Link and taking the sword. The sword flashed once blue but there was no trouble for the dark Hylian to hold it. The only real problem was the fact that Dark's left arm wasn't fully healed yet.

Dark gave the sword back to Link quite soon after he had swirled it couple of times in his hands. After that he rubbed his left arm which worried Link quite a much. "Sorry... My arm's not yet fully healed..." The dark Hylian replied sheepishly. The Hero sighed and nearly facepalmed.

"You just had to be an idiot, huh?" Link asked with slight huff. Dark gave nervous chuckle and shrugged. "You couldn't come up with the idea of actually taking the sword into your _right_ hand?" The Hero continued bit annoyed.

"Sorry, but I'm left handed. Didn't really think about it until I already took the sword up." Dark replied with a shrug. Link sighed and shook his head slightly while rolling his eyes at the darker Hylian's actions.

"Anyone else willing to give the proof?" The Hero asked and looked straight at the leader of the three. The two other guards walked straight to Link. Neither had any of trouble to touch the sword. "What about you then? Or are you scared?" The Hero continued with a slight grin on his face.

The guard huffed and walked straight to Link. He took the sword very confidently but screamed out in pain nearly straight off. The sword flashed red and the guard dropped it off since it had nearly burned his hand. Link, Dark and the two guards were all quite startled about the situation.

The guard narrowed his eyes in fury and hatred before already very quickly launching at Dark. The guard pulled the dark Hylian to his chest and brought out a knife to Dark's throat while backing off. "This wasn't exactly in my plans but it works none the less..." He stated with a slight shrug.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N: And again I leave it into a cliffhanger. -.-' SORRY! =/ Um... Next chapter will be up at Saturday 21.9. ^^;

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story.  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	4. Talking

A/N:

Enjoy the chapter! =D

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 4: Talking

Link and the two other guards had been taken fully off guard about the situation. The Hero would've loved to do something but he feared too much to make things even worse than what it already was. "Let. Him. Go." Link stated as firmly as he could. "This can be handled easily so don't make it any harder than what it already is." He continued as calmly as he could.

The guard laughed. "Oh, _please_. Are you just blind or under a spell? This guy is not worth of your time, Hero." He replied smugly. "And honestly, I never thought that you'd of all of people, _Link_, would befriend an enemy." The guard continued with a smirk.

Dark had had enough of the situation. "I'm sick of this shit..." He mumbled with a sigh. The guard glanced at him bit confused but very soon gasped in shock and pain. The dark Hylian had hit his elbow right into the guard's stomach as hard as he could. The knife fell down and the grip on Dark was loosened.

Dark turned around very fast and punched the guy once hard to the face with his right hand. Right after that he gave a strong kick and knocked the guard to ground. The dark Hylian winced slightly since he had done that by his left leg that was still healing.

Dark sighed and turned around. Link and the guards stared at him quite awed. "What? I was sick of the darn situation already." The dark Hylian stated with a shrug. The two guards glanced at each other before going to hold the bad guy down. Link stared at Dark for a while before slowly starting to laugh. "_What_?" Dark asked in a slight whine.

Link shook his head while taking up the Master Sword and sheathing it. "You're full of surprises, Dark." He replied with a wide smile. Dark was bit startled about that and slightly blushed while shrugging.

"I... I guess..." He half mumbled while turning his gaze off of Link. The slight fighting sound caught the dark Hylian's notion and he turned around. The bad guy was thoroughly trying to get free from the two other guard's grip. After a while he stopped fighting and just calmed down.

Link had kept eye on the three guards whole time but once things started to look calm, he turned his notion back to the dark Hylian right in front of him. "Dark, there's something we gotta—" The Hero started but didn't get any further than that.

When things looked calm, the two other guards calmed down and, sadly, dropped their guards. The ex-leader of theirs used that chance and moved fast. He tackled one of the guys holding him down and from the second one he took a sword while punching the guy very harshly. Right after that he took the Hero of Time as his target.

Dark realized the situation on the second he saw it. Link had never thought enemies to be so close and so the situation got him fully off guard and frozen to his place. The dark Hylian pushed him off of the sword's way but didn't have enough of time to avoid the strike himself. He gasped in pain when the sword slashed at his back. "_DARK!_" The Hero of Hyrule screamed in fear.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" The guard shouted and slashed again. Dark turned around and took a grip of the sword with his right hand. The blade cut deep into his hand but the dark Hylian ignored the pain and started to punch the guard straight at the face by his left hand.

"LEAVE. HIM. OUT. OF. _THIS!_" Dark screamed with each punch while being more than furious about the fact that a _guard _of Hyrule attacked against the _Hero _of Hyrule. After the fifth punch the bad guy fell unconscious on the floor. Dark was out of breath while dropping the sword to ground but very soon the pain of punching with a broken arm came to him. He shook his left arm a bit before cradling it. "Probably one of the worst ideas..." He mumbled while turning around to face Link.

Link stared at him fully bewildered. He didn't know what to feel. Worry, fear or anger, each of them seemed justified but instead of starting to bark the darker Hylian down for his idiocy of handling the situation the way he did, Link only sighed and relaxed. Without saying a word the Hero took a grip on Dark's tunic and started to drag him back towards the Infirmary.

Dark stumbled few times since he hadn't been ready for the action at all. "Take that idiot into jail and make sure no-one lets him out! I'll deal with you two later!" Link shouted without turning around to check the situation behind him. The two guards just nodded without a word and started to drag their ex-leader into the jail.

"L-Link... I..." Dark started after a short while but fell fully silent when Link glanced at him very angrily. The darker Hylian flinched slightly while slumping a bit and dropping his gaze down.

Link sighed again, let go of Dark's tunic and stopped walking. "You do realize to have acted very stupidly, right?" He started while turning around. Dark didn't meet his gaze but he did nod. "Why didn't you wake me up before you left? The whole situation of you getting hurt could've been avoided." The Hero continued while crossing his arms over his chest and waited for the darker Hylian to reply.

Dark gulped once before shrugging. He didn't dare to say a word. Link sighed again and shook his head. "When are you going to believe me about my words 'I won't hurt you'?" He questioned bit angrily. Dark flinched slightly but stayed silent. The Hero sighed again while watching the darker Hylian. _"Why is he acting like this? Like a kid that's waiting for getting beaten up. How the hell did he end up being like this from that confident guy I learned to know?"_ Link thought slightly worriedly and fully confused but he frowned after a while: _"Yet, he was hiding something already at then..."_

Dark got even more worried the longer the silence between them continued. _"I gotta say something..."_ He decided eventually and took once a deep breath to try and calm himself. Yet, he stayed quiet in lack of knowing _what_ to say but in his mind he found way too much that he would've wished to have the courage to tell out. _"Because I knew you wouldn't let me get off of the bed. Because I don't want you to get mad at me. Because I care about you too much to let you get hurt. Because you're all I have besides Storm... Because I'm not worth it..."_

Link sighed again and shook his head. "Fine, stay silent." He muttered quite disappointed about the situation. "Now, come on. You'd better get healed before you bleed to death..." The Hero continued and started to walk towards the Infirmary while hoping that Dark really would follow him.

When Dark heard Link start to walk again, he glanced towards the Hero. The darker Hylian sighed sadly and started to follow him without a word. Though, he was bit relieved that Link wasn't dragging him forward anymore. Without really knowing where to look, Dark glanced behind him. He _knew_ to be leaving a trail of blood behind him but it still got him fully off guard and bit fearful. _"I gotta clean that or I'll get punished for dirtying the castle..."_

The walk was done in pure silence. Once they reached the Infirmary Link pushed Dark down to the bed. "Stay there and don't you dare to move even one inch. I'll go and fetch the doctor." The Hero stated out with a voice that didn't leave even slightest bit of room for arguing against. Dark gulped once and nodded . Link sighed, turned around and left the room.

Dark slumped fully and stared at the floor while bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He hated it when Link was mad at him. He just didn't know which was more of the reason for Link's anger, the fact he had left without saying a word or the fact that he had once again risked his own life for the Hero's sake. Neither felt fully as the right reason for Link's current mood and there was something that nagged at the dark Hylian's head. _"I should tell him... But I doubt he would understand... Or actually he'd start to hate me and... I just can't take it if... If..."_ Dark thought, hid his face into his arms and started to cry.

The dark Hylian jumped a bit when he heard the door being closed. He raised his gaze up and slumped again when he saw Link come further into the room with the doctor. _"He's going to bark me down for breaking down again... Why can't I be more like him?"_ Dark thought bit fearfully, closed his eyes and just waited.

Link sighed and stopped at the middle of the room. "I'm going to get you a new tunic, Dark. I'll be back very soon... And Dark..." Link started and waited for the darker Hylian to glance at him. "Don't leave the room." The Hero half commanded before leaving the room without waiting for a reply. Dark sighed, slumped a bit and flinched slightly when the door was nearly slammed shut.

The doctor checked the dark Hylian fully while bandaging the bleeding wounds. "I know this doesn't belong to me but..." He started hesitantly. Dark slumped again and closed his eyes while waiting for the question. The doctor glanced at his patient and sighed. "Just forget I said anything..." He mumbled and concentrated fully on his work. Once he was done, he actually gave a new white shirt to Dark. "I know how much you want to keep those out of the Hero's knowledge." The doctor stated with a slight smile before leaving the room.

Dark sighed and changed the shirt as quickly as he could since he had no idea when Link would come back. He had had time to fully calm down and think out an apology for not having had woken Link up during the night before the Hero finally knocked on the door and came in. Yet, on the second the dark Hylian saw Link, his courage left him fully and he slumped once again.

"We need to talk." Link stated out while throwing the black tunic to Dark. The darker Hylian just barely caught it but stayed silent while putting it on. The Hero walked to the closest chair and sat down. There was so much he wanted to talk with Dark but knew that he wouldn't get an answer from him. So, instead he went for the latest topic that he needed to discuss with the darker Hylian.

"Navi informed me that the Great Deku Tree Sapling wants to meet us both." Link stated once Dark had managed to get the tunic on. The darker Hylian was fully surprised.

"Both of us? As in you _and_ me?" Dark asked confused and actually looked at Link. The Hero nodded.

"She stated that it's important." Link continued. Dark sighed and dropped his gaze down to the bed.

"Did she say why it's requiring us both?" He asked quietly and glanced at Link. The Hero shook his head.

"No. I don't know why the Great Deku Tree Sapling wants to meet us both nor what the matter is but the matter is urgent." He replied. "And I'm _not_ going without you to meet him." Link continued sternly.

Dark had already returned his gaze back to the bed. "I'm not coming." He whispered quietly. Link sighed and shook his head.

"I know you're not in the condition to go for it currently but once you are, both of us _are_ going." The Hero half commanded and nearly huffed in anger when Dark shook his head.

"I really doubt it requires me along." The dark Hylian said quietly.

"You are coming even if I had to drag you along!" Link shouted while standing up in anger. Dark closed his eyes tightly while flinching. The Hero sighed and sat back down. "Sorry..." He muttered quietly. The darker Hylian only nodded while opening his eyes again but he didn't raise his gaze up to meet Link's gaze. "But honestly, how am I going to get you with me to meet the Great Deku Tree Sapling?" Link questioned quietly.

Dark wasn't fully sure whether or not Link actually asked it from him or if he was just asking that from himself. "Um... Let me do my own choices and don't get so mad at me because of them...?" The dark Hylian eventually answered but it came out more as a question instead of a confident answer.

Link was bit surprised to hear Dark actually answer to him again. And it even took a bit longer to fully register what the darker Hylian had said. "Wa-Wait, what?" He started and stood up from the chair while feeling anger rising up again. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! You nearly got yourself killed and you freaking well know that I can fight for myself! As long as you do such idiotic stunts like that there's no chance for me to just calmly accept it!" Link screamed and came right in front of Dark.

Dark recoiled backwards before fully backing away from the Hero. "I... I was... I was just... I..." He started but didn't find the right words. He had known that Link would get really mad at him but the dark Hylian had still hoped for the best. Slowly he pulled his knees again against his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "I... I don't have anyone else than you..." Dark whispered very, very quietly before closing his eyes.

Link stared at the darker Hylian. He only saw that Dark said something but he couldn't get even one word out of it. "Could you repeat that a bit louder?" The Hero questioned with slight hope but Dark shook his head for an answer. Link sighed again and shook his head. "I need to calm down..." He half mumbled and stood straight. Right after that he turned his back to the darker Hylian and without a word walked out of the room.

Dark watched bit freaked out how Link left him alone. On the second the door was closed the dark Hylian broke down and hid his face into his arms. _"He hates me... I knew he would eventually hate me... Why can't I _ever_ do the right choice?"_ Dark thought bitterly and fully in despair.

_"Because you're pathetic and never could match him."_ The voice stated cruelly while laughing mockingly. Dark's emotion changed in a flash from misery into anger and hatred.

_"LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'VE RUINED ENOUGH OF MY LIFE ALREADY!"_ The dark Hylian screamed back with all his might. The voice's laugh only increased.

_"Come on! Bring it all out! We'll see what's left of you when all this is over."_ The voice replied tauntingly. Dark flinched and fell silent. His courage had been very short lived and he broke down crying even harder. The voice laughed. _"You're useless. Thoroughly waste of time and effort."_ The voice continued and slowly faded while whole time laughing loudly and very cruelly.

Dark wanted to scream and destroy something but instead he just sat on the bed and cried. He just barely heard Link coming back into the room. "Dark, I—" The Hero started but the dark Hylian cut him short.

"I'll come with you to meet that guardian tree!" He shouted straight off while looking desperately at Link. "Just, _please,_ don't hate me anymore!" Dark continued and started to cry once again.

Link stared at the dark Hylian for a long while in pure bewilderment. _"What. The. Heck?"_ He thought in complete confusion. The Hero shook his head to clear his mind fully before walking to the bed and hugging Dark.

The darker Hylian returned the hug desperately and quite tightly. "_Please_, don't hate me. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Just don't leave me!" Dark whispered fully broken. The words took Link fully off guard.

"I've never hated you, Dark." The Hero started carefully and as calmly as he could. He pushed the darker Hylian off of himself to see his face fully. "And I _do_ want you to do your own choices but... Just don't put yourself into unnecessary life-danger. And I will never leave you, Dark. I promise." Link continued with a slight smile.

Link sighed and pulled the darker Hylian back into an embrace. Dark was still slightly crying and returning the hug almost harshly. _"What the heck's wrong with him? From time to time he's confident and thoroughly knowing what he's up to but then... Out of blue he's complete opposite. He's like a kid but... I don't know. Something fully wrong with him and I have no idea what it is. How the hell I can help him when he so desperately hides something?"_ The Hero thought and was bit surprised when he realized that the darker Hylian had actually fallen asleep in his arms.

Link sighed sadly while carefully laying Dark down to the bed. "L-Link..." The darker Hylian whispered with slightly shaking voice. The Hero sighed again and shook his head. The whole situation worried, scared and angered him but there was so little he really could do. So, to help the darker Hylian, Link carefully laid down on the bed and pulled the blankets over himself and Dark before pulling the ex-shadow into loose embrace.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N:

Finally a chapter without a cliffhanger. ^^; Anyway, next chapter is at next Saturday! =D

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story.  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	5. The quest starts

A/N:

Finally we're starting to get into the actual story! =D

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 5: The quest starts

Link and Dark were riding towards Kokiri Forest. The past few weeks had been bit harsh for the two Hylians. Link had send Navi to take a message to the Great Deku Tree Sapling about the fact that the duo was coming but needing bit more time since Dark wasn't in his full condition. That and they needed to talk.

Dark had been fully reluctant to talk and bit fearful but Link kept the talk on thoroughly different roads than what the darker Hylian had feared for. The topics varied widely from common things into slowly more personal going parts. Each time things started to get too far, Dark clammed up. Slowly Link started to understand at least some parts of the darker Hylian's actions but it was very small victory and didn't give full explanation for things. The main thing he did learn was the topics and ways to keep Dark on lot better mood and on that way confident and trustful.

Link watched the darker Hylian out of corner of his eyes. They had rode through most of the trek already and stayed silent ever since they left the castle. Dark had fallen into his thoughts long ago and it worried the Hero. He had no idea what was going through the darker Hylian's head and the silence was something he wanted to avoid at the moment because he felt like neither was fully ready for what was to come and by talking they could comfort each other and keep the spirit up.

Dark sighed quietly while keeping his gaze in Storm's mane. He had let the black stallion walk to his own pace while following Link towards the Kokiri Forest. _"What is that Great Deku Tree Sapling wanting of me? If it didn't want me around the forest I'm sure it could've thrown me out long ago. I can understand Link getting summoned by it but me... It just doesn't make sense. Does it just want to see me and decide whether or not I'm a threat? Or is it just curious to see what I look like?"_ Dark kept going through the same thoughts over and over again without finding an answer to the questions.

"What's going through your mind, Dark?" Link eventually asked when they entered the small path between trees. The Hero's voice jolted the darker Hylian out of his thoughts and he turned to face him.

Dark sighed while slightly relaxing before shrugging. "Not much..." He replied quietly. Link frowned at the answer.

"Not much, huh? So you are thinking at least something." The Hero stated with a slight grin. Dark gave a slight chuckle and shrugged again. "Come on, tell me what you're thinking. You do realize that I can't read minds, right?" The Hero continued with slight whine but the grin didn't fade off even one bit.

Dark laughed a bit which only widened Link's happy grin. "Well... I'm just bit worried..." The darker Hylian finally said with another shrug.

"About?" Link inquired carefully while hoping that the topic wasn't something that Dark wasn't willing to talk about. The darker Hylian sighed again but he was smiling a bit which lessened the Hero's worry.

"About the reason I was asked to come along too." Dark replied and frowned slightly. "I can understand you being summoned up but me..." The dark Hylian sighed and shook his head. "I really can't come up with any good reason for _me_ to be summoned by the guardian."

Link shrugged. "Well, we'll find out once we arrive to him, right?" He replied smiling. "Come on, Dark! Stop worrying so much. It can't be anything bad, I'm sure of it." Link continued encouragingly. Dark chuckled again but nodded.

"Yeah, guess you're right..." He half whispered but it didn't blow his worry off. _"What if they hate me as much as everyone else does?"_ Dark thought bit fearfully. _"If the Kokiris claim that I'm a threat, the guardian has to do something and from there... Things just would start to go wrong and I doubt Link could do a thing to fix it..."_ The dark Hylian sighed and slumped a bit.

"Dark?" Link called slightly concerned. Dark raised his gaze up to meet his with equally distressed eyes. The Hero sighed and gave a reassuring smile. "You're worrying for nothing, Dark. Besides, I'll be there right next to you." He stated confidently.

Dark nodded and sighed. "I know... I just can't help it..." He replied and tried desperately to find same kind of courage and confidence that Link had. _"I would've needed a day off to gather my thoughts... And confidence... And courage..."_ The dark Hylian thought bit sadly.

Before Link had a chance to say anything else to comfort Dark, the duo was already at the tree trunk. The Hero sighed while getting off of Epona. "You ready?" He asked from the darker Hylian once he had come down from Storm.

"Not really but I doubt I'll get any readier for this..." Dark replied and took once a deep breath. "Show the way, Link..." He continued and nodded to the Hero. Link nodded back and started to walk towards the tree trunk.

Dark followed quietly. He had seen some parts of the place while still being a full shadow and going through the Temples with Link. Yet, he always avoided coming face to face with the Kokiris and so he also avoided the guardian fully. This was his first time into the living area of the place.

Link stopped before the second tree trunk. He turned to look at Dark with a reassuring smile. Dark nodded and wished he could've gotten at least a _fraction_ of Link's confidence for himself. After that the Hero started to walk forward again. The darker Hylian took once a deep breath before following Link through the tree trunk and inside the Kokiri Forest.

"Hey, it's Link!" One of the Kokiris shouted happily on the second the Hero came through the tree trunk. The children of the forest came running to him but slowed down a bit when Dark followed in Link's wake. The eagerness of meeting Link again was replaced by curiosity to the new guy as well as with slight fear.

Dark was bit surprised about the people who came bit uncertainly closer to him and soon the dark Hylian was surrounded by them. Link had walked behind the fast forming crowd and turned around bit apolitically once the Kokiris started to question the newcomer and state out their observations.

"Who are you?"

"He looks just like Link but darker in overall..."

"Where did you come from? And what are you doing here?"

"Since he's like Link does it mean that he's equally good? Though, he's dark appearance doesn't give much of help... What if he's up and about for harm?"

"I thought Link was the only one who could come here! What if there's going to be more of people coming?! We'll never be in peace anymore!"

Link sighed while carefully making his way through the crowd and to Dark's side. The darker Hylian just looked around in bit of fear and worry. He wasn't sure if the Kokiris were going to judge him straight off and he was feeling bit fearful about harming them if he actually moved.

"Okay guys, calm down!" Link called once he got through. "First of all, he's name is Dark and he's with me. Second of all, we were summoned by the Great Deku Tree Sapling. And third of all... No, Dark is not a bad guy and no, there won't be more of people coming around. Rest of questions can be handled once we've seen the Great Deku Tree Sapling." He continued calmly, took Dark's hand into his own and started to guide him out of the middle of the crowd.

The Kokiris were bit taken aback about Link answering to their questions instead of the darker version of him. The given answers calmed them down but there still was lot of questions they wanted to ask and things they wanted to understand. The main question that the two Hylians still heard them whisper out was: "Why does he look so much alike Link?"

Link sighed a bit in relief once they were getting closer to the path to the Great Deku Tree Sapling. "Sorry about that... I forgot how curious they can be." The Hero apologized while letting go of Dark's hand so they could jump over the small river lot easier.

Dark just shrugged. "It just took me off guard, I guess." He replied while trying desperately to be more confident than what he was feeling. Link nodded but frowned quite soon when he saw Mido guarding the road to the Great Deku Tree Sapling.

"Just walk beside me..." Link stated once they got to the same area where Mido was at. Dark was bit startled about Link's voice but nodded and matched his steps with the Hero.

Mido narrowed his eyes at the two Hylians. He knew Link perfectly well but even after all these years he still didn't like him. And the other guy, Link-lookalike, was something he wasn't going to let further. "Halt!" The Kokiri shouted while moving right in front of Dark.

Dark was bit taken aback and stopped dead on his tracks while Link took few more steps before turning around. "You will not pass me." Mido stated out coldly and glared at the darker Hylian. Dark stared back but without the anger and hatred in his eyes. Instead, he was curious and bit confused.

"Why not?" Dark asked and tried to go past the male Kokiri but Mido stood whole time right in front of him. Link sighed and shook his head.

"Mido, let him through. Both me _and_ him have been summoned by the Great Deku Tree Sapling." The Hero stated as calmly as he could even though Mido's actions were getting on his nerves.

The Kokiri crossed his arms over his chest while shaking his head. "Not a chance." He stated quite angrily and kept glaring at Dark. "You are only to pass, Link, because you've saved whole Hyrule. But him... No way." Mido continued and moved again when Dark tried to round him all over again.

Link facepalmed. "Either you let him through or I'll take you up and drop you into the water." The Hero stated out very sternly. Dark was startled and he turned his gaze from the Kokiri into Link. Even Mido was fully surprised. "Well? How do you want to handle this, Mido?" Link continued while crossing his arms over his chest and waited for the male Kokiri's answer.

Mido sighed angrily and moved aside. "This is one time and one time only." He hissed and glared at Link before turning his back to the duo. Link sighed in relief and waited for Dark to come next to him before continuing forward.

"He still hates me... Not that I wouldn't blame myself too for things that happened... The Great Deku Tree... Saria..." Link whispered sadly while walking beside Dark in the pathway to the Great Deku Tree Sapling.

"Link... It wasn't your fault. You did what you could. Besides, you were just a kid at the time." Dark replied equally sorrowfully and wished he could've said or done something more. Link just nodded before taking a deep breath and coming past the last corner.

The dead Great Deku Tree was right behind the Sapling. Link's sadness increased each time he came to there and saw that gigantic dead tree. The Sapling had grown quite a much during the years but it still had long way to go before it could even think about matching the earlier guardian of the forest. Yet, the young tree was far from the Sprout Link had first seen him to be.

"Ah, the Hero of Time and his shadow. Nice to see that the two of you made it here." The Sapling started while slightly bouncing up and down on its place. Link sighed and slightly slumped at the tree's words. Even Dark flinched and dropped his gaze down.

"Young Great Deku Tree, forgive me for being blunt but he's name isn't _shadow._ It's Dark and I'd prefer if you called him that." Link started carefully while coming closer to the tree. Dark was slightly surprised how calmly the Hero talked to the guardian spirit and even more for him to back the darker Hylian up.

"And I've told you not to call me 'Young Great Deku Tree'. That isn't my current name, _Hero of Time_." The young tree answered equally calmly with a slight grin. "So, shadow and Hero, I do have lot to talk about with—" The Great Deku Tree Sapling continued but Link cut it short on the second he noticed Dark flinch at the word _shadow_.

"Just stop calling him as _shadow_! He's not that anymore for Goddesses sake!" Link nearly shouted. Both the tree and the darker Hylian recoiled bit backwards at the Hero's outburst. "He's name is _Dark_ and you'd better keep that in your mind." Link continued and was close at glaring at the tree.

"L-Link, it's okay... I don't mind, really..." Dark said with slightly trembling voice while trying to calm the Hero down. But Link raised his hand to shut the darker Hylian up without even glancing at him.

"Let's make a deal. I stop calling you as Young Great Deku Tree if you stop calling Dark as shadow." Link suggested carefully.

The young tree chuckled. "Fine, Hero of Time." It started but didn't get further from there when Dark actually took part into the conversation.

"It also consist of you stop calling Link as Hero of Time, thank you." The dark Hylian stated but his calm voice was just a facade. Inside he was worried and scared to have crossed the line by speaking to the guardian of the forest without being spoken to.

The Great Deku Tree Sapling stared at Dark for a while before starting to laugh. Dark gulped and dropped his gaze down. _"Damn, I crossed the line!"_ He thought worriedly. Link moved bit closer to Dark for his comfort and protection.

Once the tree stopped laughing it was grinning. "So, I think we're good now. _Link_ and _Dark_, please, sit down. This might take a while." The Great Deku Tree Sapling said with a slight smile. Both of the Hylians sighed in slight relief before sitting down to the grass and waiting for the tree to continue.

"I'm afraid that there has come new enemies into the Forest Temple." The guardian tree started straight off. Link jumped straight up nearly bewildered.

"_WHAT?!_ Why didn't you give that news to us straight off by Navi?!" The Hero shouted in shock. The Great Deku Tree Sapling shook its branches to calm Link down.

"Because it is something where Dark is needed along." The tree stated as calmly as it could and turned its gaze from Link to Dark. The darker Hylian was fully taken off guard.

"...Me?" He asked in lack of better words. Even Link looked at Dark bit confused before turning his gaze back to the young tree. "How come I'm needed? Link's the Hero for Goddesses sake! I really doubt him to need me at there!" Dark half shouted while standing up.

Link flinched slightly. He seriously wanted Dark along to the said quest but he couldn't force him. The dark Hylian wanted to go too but feared a bit of not being as much of help as the tree was hoping for. "If you would let me explain, it'll all come clear." The tree replied calmly.

Dark took once a deep breath and nodded while sitting back down. Link was bit slower but followed the darker Hylian's example. The Great Deku Tree Sapling nodded and calmed down again. "I send several fairies, Navi included, to check the place when I received the first notion of the enemies taking the Temple over. The fairies have never seen such creatures before and they couldn't find weak points or anything of useful." The tree started sadly.

"And that's not all. The monsters have changed the Temple's outlook a lot so the rooms you have learned to know, Link, aren't there anymore... And the worst thing is that... Saria hasn't answered to my calls." The Sapling continued thoroughly concerned and fearfully.

On the second Link heard the last line he shot back to his feet. "_WHAT!?_ Oh dear Goddesses..." He first shouted but nearly whispered the next line before already starting to pace. Without knowing what else to do, the Hero took out Ocarina of Time and started to play Saria's Song. No matter how many times he played it through, he didn't get even slightest answer from the Sage of Forest.

"Where's Navi? I need to send message to princess Zelda." Link stated fully worriedly. The young tree nodded and very soon the blue fairy flew down from the dead tree's body. "NAVI!" The Hero shouted straight off and the fairy came to him on that second. "I need you to meet with princess Zelda. Tell her to try and get an answer from the Sages. This is urgent so fly as fast as you can. Me and Dark will be at the Forest Temple." He continued nearly in panic.

Navi nodded and left right after that to zoom straight to the castle. "Dark." Link called and looked straight at the darker Hylian. "I'm going straight to the Forest Temple. Are you going to follow me?" He stated sternly. Dark nearly narrowed his eyes while standing up and nodding his answer.

"Wait!" The Sapling called. "You can't go without a very important equipment." It continued and started to swing the branches before desperately trying to get them higher and higher. Link and Dark glanced at each other before turning their gazes back to the young tree. Suddenly the ground shook slightly and to Dark's right side, not too far from the Great Deku Tree Sapling, came a chest from underneath the ground.

"Open it, Dark. You will certainly find it useful." The tree said happily. Dark glanced at Link quite surprised. The Hero shrugged but stayed on his place. The darker Hylian turned back towards the chest and went to open it.

Dark found from inside the well decorated chest a duplicate of Link's Hookshot. It was lot darker in color and the markings and everything was like a mirror to the Hero's own equipment. The only thing that was same was the mechanism.

Dark stared at the item quite bewildered while turning around to show Link what he found. The Hero was bit surprised but soon he smiled. "You know, I had been trying to get you a duplicate of my equipment but it either was impossible to be done or then the price was way too high." Link said quite happily.

"To each weapon Link has gathered there is a dark version of it. These dark versions have been hidden well but since you, Dark, have been on the dark side before and turned your back to it later on, I believe these dark versions to be quite appropriate and convenient." The Great Deku Tree Sapling stated eagerly. "Search for the rest of the equipment and I'm sure it will be very useful for both of you." It continued and nodded then.

"Oh, and before you two leave... Link, would you take out your Ocarina?" The tree spoke out and Link did as he was asked of. "I will teach you a song that will eventually come handy but know that this song is very sacred. It has been created by the Great Fairies and taught by the guardian tree of this forest." The Sapling started very sternly. "The song is called _Last Hope_. This song is a way of calling out a pink fairy for your aid. Do _NOT_ use this unless it is life and death situation. This song should _NEVER_ fall in wrong hands." The tree continued with grave voice.

Link nodded and readied himself to learn one new song. The Great Deku Tree Sapling closed his eyes and called forth the fairies. They started to quietly sing while the young tree rustled its leaves into a tone of the song. It took a while from Link to find the right rhythm but very soon he realized the way to play it.

"Remember, use this only if _have to_. In no other situation is it accepted to be used. This song has to stay hidden from evil." The young guardian stated and Link and Dark nodded. "Good. And good luck on your quest _Dark Link_." The tree said.

The two Hylians nodded before leaving to head towards the Forest Temple. Mido glared at the two when they passed him. Link stayed close to the wall and Dark followed silently while in deep in thought. Luckily they managed to climb up to the road to Lost Woods without any of the Kokiris coming to bother them.

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A/N: I know Link could use the warp songs but he wants to check the way to the Temple too. Just in case, you know. =) And now we're starting to get longer chapters too! =D

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	6. Heading to the Forest Temple

A/N:

Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 6: Heading to the Forest Temple

"You're awfully quiet, Dark. What's on your mind?" Link questioned carefully while picking his route through the Lost Woods. Dark just shrugged while following the Hero without paying any notion to his surroundings.

"It's just the way he said our names in his last sentence..." The dark Hylian replied in slight frown. Link glanced at him and shrugged.

"What do you mean?" He asked while taking the last turn and taking out his sword and shield. Dark mimicked him without thinking and shrugged.

"I just felt like that young tree called me _Dark Link_ instead of meaning for both of us..." The dark Hylian answered while still frowning slightly.

"So? Does it really matter?" Link inquired while looking around the area. Dark shrugged again.

"I guess not..." He stated and frowned then at Link's actions. "What are you doing?" Dark asked while coming next to the Hero and glancing both ways of the maze.

"Checking." Link replied before taking to the first corridor. "Just follow me and stay close." He continued once the darker Hylian came, much calmer, to the Hero's side. And before Dark had a chance to ask about it, Link already answered to the unvoiced question:"If the Temple's full of enemies, they are bound to be around here too. And if I remember right, there had been just four very huge Moblins on the path."

Dark nodded and listened carefully to his surroundings while following Link forward. The Hero listened for every little sound very carefully while glancing swiftly around the corners before going forward. "So far so good." Link whispered after getting to the second slight hiding place on the way.

Suddenly the ground shook at the steps of something heavy walking close by. Link backed off into far off corner while taking out his Hookshot. Dark was bit startled but he followed Link's example and came next to him. "Don't move or make any of sound. They should be quite blind if nothing moves to catch their interest. Oh, and stay down." Link whispered quietly while crouching down to hide in the high grass. Dark mimicked him straight off.

Suddenly the huge brownish creature came into their view. It had huge spear and bit of armor. Its head was something of mix of a dog and a pig. But there was something very off about the creature that worried Link. The monster looked exactly like a Moblin but something just didn't add up but the Hero couldn't figure it out... Not until Dark screamed out his warning and pushed Link off of the spear's way: "Look out!"

The spear clanged into the wall where the duo had just seconds ago been at. As fast as the Moblin send its spear towards its enemies, it already had a new one ready for use. Link stared right at the creatures eyes in slight fear. "This shouldn't be happening!" He half shouted before already yelping when Dark dragged him up from the ground.

"Not the best time to try and figure out what's wrong in the scene!" The dark Hylian shouted while heading back towards the way they had come from. Link stumbled after him for a short while before regaining his balance and running for his own life. The spears were well aimed but it still was hard to strike into a moving target so those attacks were always slightly too short which was a great luck for the two Hylians.

Dark led Link back to the small clearing before the maze. The Moblin followed them but stopped after a while. The two Hylians leaned against the wall and Dark held his eyes shut. "I think we're—" The Hero started but found very soon the darker Hylian's hand over his mouth. They heard the Moblin turn around and come closer on the path.

The monster stopped right at the part where the way to the clearing was. Dark and Link nearly held their breaths while waiting for the creature to leave. But the luck wasn't on their side and the Moblin took that one step forward and straight into the small clearing. Link stared horrified at the monster.

It was like the Moblin could've felt Link's eyes on him because it turned around to face them. It readied the next spear and this time the Hero dragged Dark out of their small hiding place. The dark Hylian nearly crashed to the ground but on the second he saw the monster, he was ready to run as fast as possible.

The Moblin swung the spear and the two Hylians had to separate ways to the creature's different sides. Link got straight to the maze's path but Dark had to circle further off to get to there. The monster swung the spear again right towards the darker Hylian because there was more room for it to fight.

"Dark! Duck!" Link screamed on the second he realized what was going to happen.

"What the hell?! Where do you think to be a darn dark duck?!" Dark screamed back without really understanding what Link had told him to do.

"_GET DOWN!_" The Hero shrieked straight off without caring what the darker Hylian was asking. The words worked and Dark hit the ground on that second. The spear went past just by mere inches. "RUN!" Link shouted out once the danger was off for the time being.

Dark took the direct way from his place to Link which was to run right between the Moblin's legs. Right after that they went back into the maze and ran forward. "Just hope there won't be more of those..." Dark whispered in bit of fear and Link just nodded but right after the next corner they halted straight off. "Oh... Shit..." The darker Hylian whispered when he saw the second Moblin.

The duo did a straight turnaround and headed back. They didn't get too far when the first Moblin came right towards them. "The Temple's that way, right?" Dark asked and pointed to the way they had just come from after he avoided the flying spear. Link just nodded. "Then I suggest we head that way and hope for the best." The dark Hylian continued and bolted right back to the way where they had crashed with the second Moblin. This time Link followed him as close as possible.

The two Hylians got quite close to the stairs that led to the Temple's door until their way was blocked by two Moblins. They stood close to each other and blocked the route thoroughly. And not just that, they were sweeping the ground with their spears so there was no chances of getting anywhere near of them.

"Change of plans, Dark..." Link stated and took the lead of heading back towards the way they had just come from. "We're getting up." The Hero continued while avoiding other one of the two Moblins. Dark had no idea what Link was planning but he followed very close by.

They managed to return back to the small clearing. "Keep them occupied for a second..." Link asked while taking out his Ocarina and started to play. Dark had never heard the song before. He would've loved to just listen and forget everything else but the monsters were getting closer.

Suddenly there was heard rustling of straws. Dark looked around and gasped in shock when he saw the scarecrow up on the ledge. "Come on, Dark, before those darn things come too close!" Link half commanded while changing his Ocarina into Hookshot. The darker Hylian nodded and followed Link's example. Soon they both were up next to the scarecrow. "Follow me!" The Hero half shouted and started to make the straight way towards the Temple.

"Watch out!" Dark screamed and nearly tackled Link to the ground when one of the spears went right over them. Link gasped in slight fear and moved further off of the edge when another spear flew from close by.

"How did you say you killed these things, Link?" Dark asked while staying as low as possible. Suddenly his eyes widened in fear. "ROLL TO SIDE!" The dark Hylian screamed while doing exactly that. The spear missed the two Hylians just by few seconds. It rose back up and came down with full speed. Suddenly there came another one and those spears started to slam into the edge while getting further off from each other.

Once far enough from the up and down going spears, the two Hylian stood back up like from shared plan and started to head forward. "Do zigzags, Link! It'll be harder for them to hit us!" Dark shouted but right after saying those words he already realized that Link was doing exactly that.

"No need to tell the obvious!" Link replied but gave a slight grin to Dark to show that he hadn't really minded about the reminder. But on the second he had done that, the Hero's eyes widened in fear. "DARK, LOOK OUT!" He screamed but couldn't do anything when the spear tackled the darker Hylian down.

Dark screamed out of surprise when he fell. Link couldn't stop his own moving because there still was at least two spears whole time trying to hit him. The dark Hylian didn't have a chance to get up when another spear came at him and swept him off of the edge. "_DARK!_" Link shrieked in fear.

The dark Hylian hit his back against the wall and slightly cried out while crashing to the ground. The next spear got his eyes widen in pure fear. Out of reflex he dove to his side and ended up into the square watery area. The spear had been close of hitting the dark Hylian and it had been just out of luck that he had opened his eyes in time.

Dark dove as deep as the small area gave him chance to. Two out of four Moblins came right next to the water place and blocked the dark Hylian's way out. The monsters started to stab the water with their spears but luckily they didn't get the spears deep enough to hit Dark. But with the spears hitting the water he couldn't get up to the surface for air either.

Link called Dark's name several times but didn't get any kind of answer. Suddenly he realized that two of the creatures were interested of the area where was water. _"Oh crap... You just _had_ to find the most dangerous place to take cover, huh?"_ The Hero thought while heading towards the area. He took out his sword and started to slash at the oncoming spears off of his way.

Link stopped right behind the closest Moblin. The monster was so concentrated in trying to hit its victim that it didn't realize that the other one of the enemies was right next to it. The Hero used the two Moblins as his shield against the spears and took out his Hookshot. He wasn't sure whether or not Dark would understand but he pointed to the device several times until aiming it right at the dark Hylian.

Dark barely made out Link's silhouette because of the madly rippling water. He only could guess what the Hero was thinking but considering that the dark Hylian didn't have anything else than sword, shield, a small knife and just a short while ago acquired Hookshot, he decided to go for the newest equipment.

Dark's air was starting to run out but he watched at Link as clearly as he could. The Hero waved his hand once down, second time and at third they both launched their own Hookshot towards the other. The grapping parts of the equipment clanged together and got stuck. Link pulled once backwards as harshly and strongly as he could.

The Hookshots started to pull themselves back inside. Since Dark was underwater, he didn't have anything to keep him in one place but Link then again had solid ground right underneath his feet. The dark Hylian closed his eyes the closer he got to the surface and on that way also closer to the spears.

But Link had counted the timing right. Dark came out of the water on the second the spears were up and not even close of being struck down. He breathed in on the fresh air and coughed few times before already coming very close to the edge where Link currently was at.

The Hero backed off a bit to give more room for Dark to get fully up. Once on solid ground the darker Hylian released the Hookshot and fell to his knees. "Don't stay at one place, Dark! We gotta move!" Link half shouted and forced Dark back up to his feet. "Come on!" The Hero continued while starting to drag him forward towards the Temple's entrance.

Once close enough the two Hylians jumped down from their place. "It'll take them a while before getting into here so we can continue forward." Link stated while standing up. Dark sighed and leaned against the wall behind him.

"How about a short break? I'm out of breath..." He mumbled while closing his eyes. Link chuckled slightly but shook his head bit sadly.

"Sorry but the faster we get further the better. We're not safe in here." He replied apolitically. Dark sighed but nodded. He knew that Link was right but it still didn't take off the weariness. Link took the lead again and started to walk up the stairs to another pathway.

Link groaned on the second they got to the top of the stairs. At the end of the pathway was a Great Moblin. On the second it saw the two newcomers it started to swing the huge club and strike it with full force into the ground. The ground shook for a while and a shockwave moved quite fast from one end of the path to another. Dark gulped. "We gotta get past that...?" He asked bit worriedly.

Link sighed and nodded. "Yeah but just follow me. I've gone past that darn thing often enough..." He replied with slight grin. "Trust me, we'll be fine." The Hero continued and smiled reassuringly. Dark nodded but gulped once more.

_"I've gone through a lot but these two are new ones for me. Link did tell off about the Moblins and even about that darn Great Moblin but I never thought to crash up with them in reality..."_ Dark thought bit worriedly.

"Follow the leader, Dark!" Link half shouted, winked once to the darker Hylian and left then to face the enemy. Dark was bit taken aback but he wasn't left too far from the Hero when he ran after him. Link ran on the middle of the way at first but right after the Great Moblin had hit the ground with his club, the Hero jumped to side. Dark followed and managed to avoid the shockwave quite easily.

Link glanced once behind him to check on the darker Hylian. He frowned a bit about the distance that was between them. Yet, it wasn't going to be much of trouble since the Hero knew already how to handle things. All he needed was to get close enough to his enemy.

Link knew that Dark could easily follow him so he concentrated into getting past the enemy. The hardest part was to avoid the club when getting past the creature. Yet, the Hero forgot that the earlier Moblins hadn't been what he had learned to deal with and so neither was this.

Link was certain of getting past the monster and he did time his movements right but he never waited for the club to be swung the other way. Dark didn't have the chance to shout out a warning when the Great Moblin swung the club from left side to right. Link stared fully horrified about the change in the monster's actions. _"I'm dead..."_ He thought while being fully paralyzed to his place and staring at the forthcoming club.

Dark took out his shield and threw it. He only prayed to have been fast enough with it. The shield came just in time between Link and the club. Even though it saved the Hero from being fully crushed it still didn't stop him from getting his air knocked off nor falling unconscious because of the strength of the hit. "_LINK_!" Dark screamed while already taking out his sword.

The dark Hylian rushed forward as fast as he could. The Great Moblin had already raised the club and was ready to slam it right down into the unconscious Hero. Dark ran right past the monster and slashed at its legs with all his power. The creature screamed out and crashed to its knees. Dark didn't wait even one second. He started to slash his sword at the Great Moblin over and over again as fast and strongly as he could.

By the time the monster died and vanished, Dark was fully out of breath and strength. He fell down to his knees while panting hard. "Link...?" The dark Hylian called quietly while going to check him.

Dark moved the shield off of him and was relieved to find Link breathing. He sighed and relaxed a bit. But his break was short lived when the ground shook and the first Moblin's head came into the view. "Oh, for crying out loud... Can't those leave us alone for a sec?" The dark Hylian muttered, took the shield up and back to his back as swiftly as possible before already trying to lift Link off of the ground.

The first spear came way too close for Dark's comfort. He knew that he didn't have the strength to get Link up from the ground and carry him into safety. _"I can't stay here either..."_ The dark Hylian thought in rising panic and just barely avoided the second spear. Thinking swiftly Dark took out his shield again and placed it over Link's chest. After that he moved fast and took a grip on Link's shoulders and started to drag him with all the strength he had left in his body.

The walk was slow but it still was bit faster than what the Moblins walked. Few of the spears hit harshly into the shield but luckily clanged off without harm. Link did gasp out but nothing else. It still worried Dark very much but he didn't stop dragging Link out of the pathway.

Eventually the edge came over and the dark Hylian took the Hero out of the Moblins sight. Dark sighed and crashed to his knees while panting hard. "Sorry for this, Link..." He whispered while starting to go through Link's pockets. After a short while he did find the bow and arrows. "I'll pay back for this..." Dark mumbled while getting things ready for the upcoming fight. "Wish this works..." He whispered desperately in slight fear and worry.

Dark stood up shakily. He was still out of breath and strength but he needed to protect Link. _"I'm the only one between those monsters and Link... I _can't_ fail..."_ Dark thought desperately, glanced once at Link and readied the bow then. _"Ready or not, here I go..."_ He thought bit grimly and went to stand right in middle of the way.

The first Moblin had already gotten half through the way. It threw the spear but Dark waited until it was close enough before stepping aside and letting the spear go right past him. He took the bow up and stretched the arrow as far as possible with shaking hands. The dark Hylian closed his other eye and took aim. He barely saw the two spears come towards him but he more of felt them than saw and out of instinct he stepped once backwards to avoid the attack.

_"Let this work, please..."_ Dark thought before letting the arrow fly. It flew straight into middle of the Moblin's forehead. The monster stopped walking and fell backwards into the ground. _"Please die... Please..."_ The dark Hylian whished desperately while taking the next arrow and avoiding three new spears. After a short while the creature did vanish.

Dark sighed in relief and took once a deep breath. He didn't trust his own strength at the moment so he had to let the rest of the monsters come lot closer. While avoiding the spears and holding on to the bow, Dark glanced at Link from time to time just to make sure he was alright. And while the creatures took their time to come closer, the dark Hylian tried to gather his strength and stay calm.

Eventually the second Moblin was close enough and Dark readied the bow for second shot. His arms were shaking a bit more than before so it was hard for him to take the aim. And it didn't help to keep trying to avoid the flying spears. The dark Hylian let the arrow fly but the Moblin avoided the strike. "Shit..." Dark mumbled while readying the third arrow.

The Moblins were getting closer whole time and the leading one had already passed through the midsection of the path. Dark took aim again and tried to calm down. After a short while he let the arrow fly again but once again the monster avoided the strike. _"Shit... I can't do this alone..."_ Dark thought in panic and glanced at Link who was still unconscious.

The leading monster bowed down to take the Great Moblin's club up. Dark grit his teeth in anger and readied the next arrow. _"Now or never..."_ He thought, took aim and let it fly. The arrow hit into middle of the creature's top of the head. The Moblin screamed once before crashing forward and into the ground. The two still standing monsters backed off by one step in bit of shock.

Dark sighed in relief. Two out of four was already taken down. Now he just needed to find two more ways to get them killed... Or at least to be kept far enough until Link would wake up and help him a bit with the fight.

The dark Hylian knew better than to try and get headshot. That was the reason he readied the bow again and aimed for the bigger area of the creature. The torso. _"Let's hope for the best..."_ Dark thought while letting the arrow fly. Instead of being avoided, the arrow was deflected by a few fast swings of the spear. The ex-shadow cursed but he wasn't going to give up.

This time he tried to get a strike at the monster's leg but the arrow was once again avoided. Dark was running out of ideas. He couldn't let the Moblins out of the pathway where they couldn't walk beside each other. It would've been too risky to try and fight on more open area. He wouldn't be able to protect Link at all.

Sighing Dark went for last possible plan. He took the quiver off and dropped the bow before taking out his sword and shield. _"Let's go for closer fighting..."_ The dark Hylian thought and ran towards the closest enemy.

The Moblin stopped walking and just waited for Dark to come close. The dark Hylian stopped and waited for the monster to do the first strike but they just stared at each other. _"Well, I think this works too..."_ Dark thought while just standing there and keeping the two creatures from getting further.

Eventually the Moblin threw the spear towards Dark. The dark Hylian had no trouble of avoiding the attack but slowly the monster started to get him to back off from the pathway. While backing away from the Moblins and avoiding the spears, Dark failed to notice the giant club that was lying on the ground. He stepped to it after jumping backwards to avoid the flying spear and fell back first into the ground.

Dark gasped while losing the air from his lungs. The two Moblins had wished for something like that and let the spears fly. The dark Hylian couldn't move so he just closed his eyes while waiting for those spears to find their target. _"I'm sorry Link... I failed..."_ He thought sadly.

Suddenly there was running footsteps and soon after a sound of very powerful sword slash. Dark heard something fall to ground and in confusion he opened his eyes to see what was going. The dark Hylian could barely believe his eyes when he saw Link standing between him and the two remaining Moblins.

"Are you alright, Dark?" Link questioned straight off and glanced at him. Dark sighed and nodded.

"Yeah... I'm okay..." He replied and started to try and get himself back to his feet. Instead he only managed to all four and from there to a sitting position before being already fully out of strength.

"Dark?" Link called worriedly. Dark sighed while trying desperately get his strength back.

"I'm fine... Just out of breath..." The dark Hylian answered and finally forced himself back to his feet. He stood there shakily while trying to find the balance again. Link glanced at him fully worried before already returning his gaze into the enemy. He had managed to block all of the spears so far and now the duo was getting closer in hopes of getting into close-range fighting.

"Let's back off a bit..." Link whispered once he had backed off next to Dark. The darker Hylian frowned a bit but followed the Hero's plan. They backed away from the pathway and hid into the area where Link had been laying a while ago. The Hero sat down and pulled Dark down with him before already whispering out his plan.

Dark thought about it and soon he nodded. It was worthy one to try and at least it would also give him a chance to calm down and gather his strength for a short while. They sat there and leaned against the wall until the ground started to shake even more to mark how close the monsters were. Dark took once a deep breath and stood up. "Be careful." Link mouthed out in full worry.

Dark nodded and gave him a reassuring smile before running towards the pathway. He did a fast somersault on the way and took up Link's bow and quiver which was still half full. With fast and fluid movement, the dark Hylian put the quiver on and readied the bow once again.

The leading Moblin was already close so Dark backed off a bit to stay out of the spear's way. Suddenly he noticed something that got him fully scared. The club. It wasn't on the ground anymore but in the leading Moblin's hands.

Link was thoroughly surprised when the ground shook even more and the shockwave was rushing straight towards the darker Hylian. Dark stood on his place for quite some time before finally avoiding the strike. The Moblin took aim again but so did Dark. He raised the bow and readied the arrow.

The Moblin set the club falling down with full force and that was also when Dark let the arrow fly. The dark Hylian moved out of the shockwave's way while still keeping his gaze on the enemy. The club had been good shield to hide the forthcoming arrow but the Moblin was fast to move its head off of the way. The arrow only graced slightly the side of the creature's head.

Dark cursed. It had been so good plan. And it certainly wasn't going to work for second turn but then again... There was still the torso. This time it might be easier to hit since the monster needed both hands to use the club. The dark Hylian grinned a bit when the old but still new plan formed up in his head.

Link tried to come up with a new plan. The first had been to just wait for the enemy to come out of the pathway. Dark would keep its notion on himself and Link would use the Hookshot to kill the monster. It should have worked but neither remembered the heavy club that had been lying on the ground.

Dark glanced at the other Moblin. It just stood there and watched. It could've tried to make the darker Hylian's fighting harder with the spears but nothing. The creature just watched the ongoing fight and waited for a right time to strike. Dark eventually left it on its own and concentrated to the other monster that was having the club in its hands.

Dark readied the bow again while avoiding the shockwaves. _"It can't avoid nor block this if I time it right."_ He thought with a slight grin. Eventually he let the arrow fly right after avoiding the shockwave. This time it hit its target but the dark Hylian was too happy for his small victory that he had fully forgotten the last Moblin.

"Dark, look out!" Link screamed out his warning when he saw the spear fly through the air. Dark blinked few times but didn't have time for much of other than to see the attack come right at him. The throw wasn't as accurate as earlier ones had been but it struck badly to the darker Hylian's left arm.

Dark screamed out while dropping the bow and turning towards his left side. He took a strong grip on the bleeding wound while gritting his teeth at the pain. The dark Hylian fell to his knees while carefully starting to examine the damage. _"If nothing else it certainly bleeds heavily."_ Dark thought while thinking out how he could bandage it.

The ground shook again when the last Moblin left to walk forward. It readied the next spear with a slight cruel smirk on its face. Its enemy would be easy target this time. The monster twirled the spear in its hand while walking closer and wondering whether or not to throw the killing spear too.

The Moblin decided against the throwing. It wouldn't be having much of accuracy and the victim could avoid it lot easier too. Instead the creature started to think out which to do, impale him from back or slash with the spear for several times before killing. But the Moblin did one simple mistake. It concentrated fully into its target and forgot that there was another target too and it was out of its sight.

Dark had already started to tore his tunic into long enough piece to bandage the wound. Link stayed silent and waited right next to the wall out of the Moblin's sight. He wouldn't have much of chances to kill the monster. Yet, the Hero would've gladly been right next to the darker Hylian and helped him but killing the monster was at the moment more important for both of their sake.

The closer the monster came the more Link readied his Hookshot for the killing blow. On the second the creature came into the Hero's view he launched the sharp hook of the device at the Moblin's head. The pig like beast had a slight feeling of something being off and it turned its head towards Link few second before the hook went straight through it.

The last Moblin fell to the ground with loud rumble. Dark was bit surprised and he turned to look at what was going on. It freaked him out when he realized to have fully forgotten the enemy and concentrated solely on the wound. _"Shit... If Link hadn't been here I would've been dead by now..."_ The dark Hylian thought while watching quite bewildered about the vanishing of the creature's body.

Only after Link got to his side and called his name thoroughly worriedly did Dark jolt back to the present. "Are you alright? How badly did it hurt you?" Link questioned straight off and glanced at the bleeding wound.

Dark sighed while relaxing. "It's not that bad, luckily..." He replied while going back to his earlier work of bandaging the wound. "It should stop bleeding soon." The dark Hylian continued after finishing his job. "Um... Link...?" Dark eventually called bit ashamed.

Link frowned but nodded to show he was listening. "Thanks for saving my life. I didn't mean to leave that darn thing out of my notion. I'm sorry." The darker Hylian said quietly. Link sighed and hugged him.

"The main thing is that you'll be okay." The Hero started. "Everything else we can deal later." Link continued while pulling off with a slight smile. Dark sighed in relief and nodded. "So, we could take a bit of rest before heading forward since we've cleared the way this far." He continued and stood up. "Come on, let's get a bit better place to be at." Link stated while helping the darker Hylian to his feet.

Link guided him close to the small tree trunk where Saria had been sitting so long ago. The Hero carefully sat down while Dark laid down on the ground but he leaned half of his body on Link's legs and placed his head over Link's lap. It didn't take long before the darker Hylian had fallen asleep.

Link sighed bit sadly and pulled out his Ocarina. He started to play it quietly at first but slowly increasing its volume. It luckily didn't bother Dark's sleep but the Hero was quite sure it actually was helping him instead of bothering. Besides, it gave Link himself something to do for the time being.

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A/N: Finally we're staring to get longer chapters! ^.^

Next chapter will be answered at next Saturday! =D

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	7. The Forest Temple, part 1

A/N:

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**Review Reply to** _HERO OF TIME:_ Thank You for Your review! If You're meaning that there's too little of fights, well that's going to change very soon. ^^; I hope to get more of reviews from You! Thank You! =)

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**IMPORTANT!_ READ!_** I have several important announcements considering _Letters from Hyrule_ and few other things. I hope You can understand and forgive me for inconvenience. I am extremely sorry for this: **Letters from Hyrule_ will be on hiatus for the time being._**

**1)** The reason for hiatus is simple. Trying to write letters every other day is taking bit too much of time while planning few other things for Your happiness. Not to mention that before I had a letter or few written before updating but now it has caught up. There is a poll on my profile so I'm quite certainly going to be updating _Letters from Hyrule_ twice a week once I've got enough of answers and I have written more of replies. BUT for that I need to know what You guys think to be the best days to update. THANK YOU! And I'm really, really, extremely, terribly SORRY for this! T.T

**2) **I'm working with a Halloween Side Quest story for CaH Saga. I have the idea and I've started to write it. But I need time with it.

**3) **I'm also working with a new Advent Calendar thingy. This time I'm updating it in DeviantArt simply because it is informational thing. Once December comes, I'll be putting one Journal for each day. Name of this thing is simply _25 Tidbits of CaH Saga_.

Also, I had in thought of NOT sending any harmful things forward but this what I have written just simply was something that I couldn't ignore. Plus I hate Ganondorf enough to do this. =P

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Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 7: The Forest Temple, part 1

The sun was starting to set when Dark woke up. Link had stopped playing the Ocarina a long time ago. He was slightly playing off with the darker Hylian's hair while leaning against his other hand and looking around the darkening place. He had actually never been around the Forest Temple during nighttime.

The Hero was jolted out of his thoughts when the darker Hylian moved off of his lap. Link watched how Dark stretched a little while still sitting on the grass. "You okay?" He questioned after a short while.

Dark turned around and gave a small nod. "Yeah, no worries." He replied with a smile but frowned after a short while. "Did you sleep at all?" The dark Hylian questioned bit worriedly.

Link chuckled slightly but shook his head. "Didn't feel like sleeping. Besides, I was knocked out for a while, remember?" He replied grinning and stood up. The Hero offered his hand to Dark which the darker Hylian accepted gladly. Link pulled him to his feet and nodded then towards the bandaged arm. "How's your arm? Does it hurt?" He questioned concerned.

Dark stretched his arm slightly. "It's okay." He replied while clenching his hand into a fist and opened it couple of times. "Ready to continue?" The dark Hylian questioned and Link nodded.

The duo walked closer to the mid section of the area and took out their Hookshots. Dark let Link go first before following him to the small branch and from there to the short pathway. "Nothing has changed so far..." Link whispered quietly while walking towards the door which led inside into the Forest Temple. Dark just nodded without a word and followed the Hero.

Link frowned when he got to the short stairway. "It's locked..." He half mumbled while going to check the lock. The Hero tried out the first key he had gotten for the Temple but it didn't work at all. "We need to find a new k—"Link started but screamed out when Dark pushed him backwards. He hadn't heard the darker Hylian's warning but he did see the purple rat looking creature that flew right through the air before the Hero crashed to the ground back first.

Dark had noticed the lock on the door before Link stated out the obvious so he looked around in search of place for the key to be hidden into. A slight movement on the ground caught his interest so he wasn't fully listening to Link's observations about the locked door. Suddenly the creature jumped off of the ground and straight towards them. "Look out!" Dark screamed and pushed Link off of the way. Unfortunately the Hero fell over the small railing and hit back first into the ground. The darker Hylian backed off and kept his eyes on the creature.

The creature was purple. It looked like a rat but moved like a mole in the ground. It bounced off from the locked door and while coming towards Dark it grew on size. It had very sharp claws and teeth while the tail turned into a pure whip. It screeched while standing right in front of the locked door and attacked by clawing. Dark backed off fast from the small stairway.

The mole-rat jumped forward and shrunk in size while coming closer to the ground. It ended up being the size of normal mole before going underneath the ground and coming straight towards Dark. The dark Hylian narrowed his eyes and backed off even more.

The monster kept following Dark's movement and tried to catch up with him. Link had the time to gather air back into his lungs and slowly get back up. He watched the small dance like movement for a short while before starting to walk towards the darker Hylian. Suddenly the creature changed its way straight towards Link. "Don't move, Link!" Dark screamed while taking out his sword and hitting it against the ground couple of times.

The monster changed ways again but it slowed down while Dark came up with a pattern for his work of tapping the sword to the ground. Link watched worriedly how the creature's movement slowed down until it stopped fully. Yet, Dark didn't stop his work at all. "What are you doing?" The Hero eventually questioned while watching the dark Hylian hit the ground twice by his sword, keeping a break and after that striking the ground twice again quite fast.

"A pattern. I think I know the creature..." Dark replied when the monster started to move again. This time its movement was slow and curious. Once it poked its head out of the ground right on the place where Dark had just tapped the sword to, it looked straight up to the dark Hylian. Dark smiled at the creature, turned the sword a bit and tapped the head of the creature twice by the wide side of the sword.

The mole-rat creature gave a small giggle and when Dark brought the sword back down, it shot up from the ground and took a firm grip of the blade. Yet, the dark Hylian didn't stop his work even with the extra weight on the sword. Twice fast tap like movements above the ground, pull up and keep a short break before repeating it all over again. The creature was giggling whole time while the sword was moving.

After a while the monster let go and went back underground. Dark still didn't stop his tapping of the ground even though the creature was gone. "Don't move." The dark Hylian warned when Link was just going to walk. "This isn't over yet..." Dark continued and right after that the small creature came back and showed the key.

Link was fully startled. "The key!" He shouted but instead of moving he stood still. Dark had nodded but it was only then he stopped his little pattern of tapping the ground. The dark Hylian crouched down and brought his hand towards the small monster. The creature shook its head and hid the key behind itself.

Dark sighed but nodded. The mole-rat watched how the dark Hylian took out his wallet and brought out one blue rupee. The creature's eyes widened in happiness and it brought the key back in front of it. The monster put the key down and reached towards the blue jewelry very eagerly. Dark gave the five rupees to the monster while taking the silverish key from the ground. "Always a pleasure..." The monster stated with a grin before vanishing into the ground with the money.

Dark sighed while taking his sword up and starting to walk towards Link. "So... I think the Great Deku Tree Sapling wanted you along since you know these monsters, huh?" Link questioned while crossing his arms over his chest. Dark shrugged.

"Maybe... I haven't crashed up with those Moblins before and about this one I had only heard rumors about..." He replied with a shrug. "So, shall we go further or are we just going to discuss about why I was asked along?" Dark continued while walking to the stairways.

Link chuckled a bit and climbed back up to the stairway. "You want to open the door?" He inquired while nodding towards the locked door. Dark shrugged but walked to open it. "So... Let's see how much the place has changed since I last was here..." The Hero half whispered while following the darker Hylian through the door.

On the second Link entered the Forest Temple he took a grip of Dark's tunic and pulled him backwards. Dark yelped a bit and looked at the Hero bit surprised. Link stared at the area in pure shock. "This place definitely has changed..." He muttered while pulling the darker Hylian behind himself and taking out his sword.

The corridor was filled with new trees and bushes. There was more of places for creatures to hide into. There wasn't another door at the end of the hallway and the Hero could easily see into the mid room of the whole Temple. From what he could see, the main room was also fully different from what he remembered.

"I don't like this even one bit..." Link stated while looking around in search of enemies. It seemed so calm and quiet, maybe even too much of that for his comfort. "Keep your eyes and ears open and be prepared for anything..." The Hero continued before taking the first step forward in the corridor.

Dark was bit fearful about Link's reaction but he followed the Hero's example and took out his sword and shield. They walked quietly through the corridor without anything coming at them. The main room was dimly lit and the four torches at the middle of the room were unlit. Link narrowed his eyes at that. "Something has definitely been at here... The four flames should be lighting this place eternally and keeping the elevator working." He stated out while carefully going further into the room.

The forest had fully taken the place over. The corridors and doors were filled with new bushes, vines and trees. The ceiling that always had been so high felt now to have come at least half way downwards from where it had been at. Link felt fully anxious and worried about the change.

The Hero was just going to go further to investigate the first room when Dark took a grip on his right arm. "What..?" Link questioned while turning to look at the darker Hylian. Dark pointed to another corner with slight frown on his face. Link raised an eyebrow at his actions but followed where he was pointing at.

There was very thin pathway at the corner of the room. Link frowned at it. There had never been a way in that specific corner when he had checked the place last time. "Should we start from there?" Dark asked bit worriedly while glancing at Link.

The Hero shrugged. "Well, it's probably just a dead end so why not." He replied and took his way towards it. Dark followed him bit hesitantly while looking around himself. The place wasn't only unnerving Link but also the darker Hylian. There was something he should've figured out but couldn't really state it out.

_"Something's off... And I'm not meaning the place in overall. The guardian tree did state out that the place was different from what we last saw but... I don't know. Something feels different, out of place... Kinda... Familiar...?"_ Dark thought with a frown but shrugged then. He tried to push the feeling off but couldn't. It worried him fully but he refused to show it out to Link. _"Better not worry him too much... This is bad enough for him already..."_

The short pathway brought the duo into a country yard. It had similarities with the two other country yards in the Temple but it still was fully different. Dark stopped at the doorway while Link walked bit further into the yard. It was having huge flowers all around the place. Close to the other side of the place was a huge and long moat that continued to their left. Behind it was tile wall with lots of climbable vines. There was one door to their right while everywhere else was huge bushes and trees that were blocking their way. There was bit of clearing after the door on their right but the small stairs and its rock wall were on their eyesight, yet the moat didn't full get into that area. The tile wall all around them went high but neither could see anything where it would lead into.

"Seems like the only way forward is that door." Link stated with a shrug. Dark just nodded but stayed still. The Hero turned around to see the darker Hylian and he frowned a bit when the ex-shadow shivered slightly. "You okay?" Link questioned worriedly.

Dark could feel something watching them. The stare was menacing and got him to shiver. And yet, even that felt somehow strange. _"It doesn't belong into here... None of this does..."_ Dark thought and blinked few times when he heard Link's slightly worried voice. "Uh... Yeah, I'm okay..." He eventually replied and shrugged then. "This place just gives me creeps." The dark Hylian continued with slight grin.

Link chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it..." He answered and started to walk towards the door. Dark frowned on the second the Hero turned his back to him. He looked around and tried to find where that stare had been given but couldn't find anything out of ordinary.

Dark took once a deep breath and shook his head. _"I'm just going crazy in here..."_ He thought with slight grin. Link was already at the door so the dark Hylian took up a short sprint but gasped out when something tripped him.

The Hero was just going to open the door when he heard Dark's gasp. He turned around and frowned a bit to see the darker Hylian on the ground. Link sighed and shook his head. "Did you trip or something?" He questioned with slight grin.

Dark sighed and sat up. He gave a slight half-hearted glare to the Hero which only got Link to chuckle a little. "Just get up so we can continue, okay." Link stated and waited for Dark to stand up and continue his trek towards him. "If you keep taking your time, I'll head forward without you." The Hero threatened but Link didn't mean his words even one bit.

"Yeah right..." Dark muttered but yelped again when he fell back to ground. This time he certainly had felt something trip him. Link turned around again and frowned fully before nearly facepalming.

"Just stop fooling around. We need to save Saria and the other Sages." The Hero stated out bit angrily. Dark huffed while pushing himself back up.

"I'm not fooling around!" He half shouted. "Something tripped me..." The dark Hylian continued and looked around but couldn't find anything that would've done such a thing.

"Really? Then pray tell me what did do that." Link replied with slight glare. Dark flinched a bit and sighed before shrugging. The Hero shook his head. "Just come on." He muttered and eventually opened the door. The darker Hylian left for a run but before he got to the door he was tackled to the ground again.

Link turned around when the door slammed shut. He tried to open it but it didn't give in even one inch. The door didn't move either way and the sudden scream got the Hero to slam against the door couple of times. "_Dark!_" He shouted out but couldn't open the door.

Link tried several other ways to open the door but nothing worked out. Not even fire even though the darn door was wood. The Hero sighed and leaned against the door for a short while before turning his back to it. _"I need to find another way back to that yard... Just hang in there, Dark. I'm coming..."_ Link thought before heading further into the new pathway.

The road was thoroughly new for Link. He had never been to that part of the Temple before and he tried to be ready for anything. The bushes and thick branches with lots of leafs were blocking most of the Hero's sight of the way. He had to move slowly and carefully forward because he had no idea what could be hiding behind all those green walls. And he had already crashed up with three new kind of monsters so the Temple could be inhabitated by anything and he had no idea of what those creatures could be or how to fight them.

The hallway ended up into a dead end. Link sighed and turned around. He couldn't get through the door and get back to the yard so there had be another way forward. The Hero turned his gaze up into the leaves for a short while before looking around. The branches looked to be thick enough to be able to climb them. Without having anything else for his chances of getting forward, Link climbed up to the first branch and searched for the next one from there.

The climbing was slow because of the leaves that blocked his sight nearly constantly. Link had to move them aside while trying desperately to stay on the current branch without falling off. And he had bit of worry for the monsters to come at him or then there to be some very poisonous bugs around. Yet, so far he had been lucky and hadn't crashed up with anything. From time to time the Hero stopped and listened to his surrounding but he couldn't hear even one simple insect or bird anywhere around. It worried him but then again the monsters had taken the place over... Yet, besides those three creatures in the start, Link hadn't crashed up anything else.

The lack of monsters worried the Hero quite a much. The Great Deku Tree Sapling had stated out about monsters but there was nothing around. _"Not that I'm eager to crash up with them but... Where the heck is all of the monsters? Usually I would've crashed up at least several of them so far."_ Link thought while searching for next branch, taking once a deep breath and jumping.

The branches started to be further off from each other so getting higher was starting to be lot harder. He had tried the Hookshot couple of times but it didn't get a grip of the branches. Eventually Link came to a dead-end. _"Shit... That's way too long jump for me..."_ He thought bit worriedly and started to search for alternative way up.

While looking around the Hero finally noticed one of the monsters of the Temple. It looked like a huge orange cat with black stripes. Link frowned at it. The creature was also having bit of hard time of getting higher but it certainly jumped better than the Hero. Besides the coloring, the monster had sharp and thick spikes on its back and the tail was like a whip. Link couldn't see its face or claws but the creature seemed quite powerful and mean.

Link turned his notion back to finding a new way forward. The monster worried him quite a much but so far it seemed like it hadn't noticed him at all yet. Quietly the Hero took out his Hookshot and hoped for the best when he launched it at the further off being branch. This time it found a place to get a grip of and Link flew through the air to a new branch.

He was quick of getting the equipment off and get into the safety of the leaves. The monster had heard the noise and looked around but as the leaves were on Link's eye sight, it was also on the monster's way too. The Hero heard the creature huff a bit after a short while. Link sighed quietly in relief before searching for a way forward. Suddenly he noticed an opening with a ledge on the wall.

_"If I know for right that should be showing off towards the yard..."_ Link thought with slight smile before frowning. _"I haven't heard a thing of Dark so far... I hope he's okay..."_ He continued worriedly and glanced underneath him. The monster had gotten higher since he had last seen it. _"I won't have much of chances to fight it... Not even on that ledge."_ The Hero realized while trying to figure out a way of getting through the situation with his life intact.

Suddenly the monster looked up and Link nearly recoiled backwards when he saw those gleaming red eyes of it. The monster gave out a hissing growl and started to come higher even faster. The Hero blinked few times to calm himself. Those eyes had freaked him out because there was something familiar with them but he couldn't really figure it out.

The monster was getting higher lot faster than what Link had managed. _"Oh crap... I'm in trouble..."_ He thought while looking desperately around in search of help. The Hero sighed and took out his Hookshot again and aimed it at the branch over the small ledge. _"Maybe I'll have luck with me..."_ Link thought and fired the hook. It took a grip on the branch and pulled the Hero over.

Link fell to the ledge. Unfortunately it was way too small to be able to fight with a sword. And he had nowhere else to go to. The monster jumped to the branch where the Hero had just a while ago been at. It stared at Link cruelly and licked its lips while showing those white, long and sharp teeth of its. Link gulped and was going to back off by one step but had to stop on that second. The ledge was very short and just barely wide enough for him to stand on it. The monster gave another hissing growl before leaping towards Link with its razor-sharp claws pointed right at the Hero and its mouth open and ready to strike those teeth into its prey's flesh.

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Okay, I have to admit that I got unexpected connection with my cat creature and Oracle of Season's Syger. It certainly wasn't intentional. I just thought the creature that I created looked cool, then accidentally, weeks after I wrote this, I came across with a fanart of Syger and I realized the connection. So, no, my creature isn't a Syger. Sorry.

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A/N: And a cliffhanger ending. -.-' I just keep doing that. Sorry. ^^;

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	8. The Forest Temple, part 2

A/N:

**IMPORTANT!_ READ!_** I have several important announcements considering _Letters from Hyrule_ and few other things. I hope You can understand and forgive me for inconvenience. I am extremely sorry for this: **Letters from Hyrule_ will be on hiatus for the time being._**

**1)** The reason for hiatus is simple. Trying to write letters every other day is taking bit too much of time while planning few other things for Your happiness. Not to mention that before I had a letter or few written before updating but now it has caught up. There is a poll on my profile so I'm quite certainly going to be updating _Letters from Hyrule_ twice a week once I've got enough of answers and I have written more of replies. BUT for that I need to know what You guys think to be the best days to update. THANK YOU! And I'm really, really, extremely, terribly SORRY for this! T.T

**2) **I'm working with a Halloween Side Quest story for CaH Saga. I have the idea and I've started to write it. But I need time with it.

**3) **I'm also working with a new Advent Calendar thingy. This time I'm updating it in DeviantArt simply because it is informational thing. Once December comes, I'll be putting one Journal for each day. Name of this thing is simply _25 Tidbits of CaH Saga_.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 8: The Forest Temple, part 2

Dark had been just going to follow Link again when something caught his notion. He turned around while hearing the door close after the Hero. The green vine came at him with high speed and instead of tangling into his feet it struck right at his chest. Dark screamed while flying through the air and hitting the ground hard back first.

The air was knocked out of him and it took a while from the dark Hylian to get up. By that time two of the huge flowers had started to move. They opened their glowing red eyes and showed their huge mouths that were filled with sharp and thin teeth. The few leaves of theirs rustled a bit while they started to slowly walk towards their victim. The monsters had lot in common with Deku Babas but the said creatures didn't walk around unlike these two.

Suddenly the other one lunged at him with its mouth closed. Dark did a fast somersault backwards to get away from it and back to his feet. The monster's attack missed but the duo kept coming closer whole time. Dark stood on his place for a while before slowly starting to take his sword out. The movement got the second creature to lunge at him. The dark Hylian withdrew his sword out in a flash and hit the monster.

They both recoiled backwards but the strike didn't do any damage into the plant. It only shook its head a bit before opening its eyes again and continuing forward. Suddenly the other one left for a sprint while keeping its head straight forward. Dark brought out his shield for his cover and the monster crashed to it with full speed. The dark Hylian stumbled backwards by the force of the strike but that was when the other one of the two came for similar attack.

The two plants took turns on attacking at Dark. They kept forcing him to back off towards the moat. Suddenly the dark Hylian realized the creatures' plan. He couldn't strike at them from front and the attacks were coming way too fast for him to try and get behind them. When the next attack came, Dark crouched down and held the shield in front of him.

The strike still got him to slide backwards but not as much as before. The creatures came closer but then suddenly stopped moving. They swayed a bit in their place while watching very interested at their target. Dark had the shield fully in front of him so the monsters didn't see much of him other than the shield. They were trying to find their target again from behind the shield that slightly mirrored the creatures' own reflection back.

Dark relaxed a bit. He had slight time to figure out what to do next. The dark Hylian was just going to put the sword off when the movement caught the other plant's notion. It lunged straight off towards the sword but this time it opened its mouth. Dark moved the shield off of the way and decided to go for another try of striking at the monster.

Suddenly the second monster took off for an attack but unlike the first, this one kept its mouth shut. Dark had to bring the shield back up which left him unable to perform the attack he had planned for. The second plant was bit faster and crashed with the shield quite fast and strongly. The dark Hylian gasped out but what truly freaked him out was the fact that the first plant had bit right at his blade.

The first creature pulled backwards with full force and ripped the dark version of Master Sword off of Dark's hands. It threw it far off into a small well not too far from them. The well had been hidden by the way to the second door in the area. Dark stared in horror at the scene and cursed for losing his weapon so easily. Right after that the two plants started to hit their heads with full speed at the shield. Dark fought back but each strike got him to slip a bit closer to the falling. The closer he got to the moat, the clearer its depth was and it certainly freaked the dark Hylian. _"If I fall to there..."_ Dark thought and shivered badly at the thought.

In lack of better ideas the dark Hylian took out his Hookshot. He had no idea where to strike it since the creatures were attacking way too fast for him to do much. _"Link told that Deku Babas can be cut off if hit into its thin stalk... Let's see if I can do that..."_ Dark thought while very slowly working with the Hookshot and aiming it at the first plant. The monsters seemed to realize that he was doing something in his hiding place and stopped bashing into the shield. Again they swayed around while trying to figure out what was going on.

Dark took once a deep breath and went for his idea. He took the shield off of the way and fired the Hookshot. The monsters moved out of the hook's way. The one that the dark Hylian had aimed at went to attack towards the chain while the second came right towards Dark. The plant was faster than what the Hookshot was so Dark stopped its movement and forced it to come back while taking cover behind his shield again.

The creature's attack against the Hookshot missed just barely and it growled a bit while glaring at the retreating weapon. The second clanged again at the shield. Both plants started to sway again and wait for next action from their target.

Dark sighed in relief when he got the Hookshot back without a scratch. It had been a close call and he certainly didn't like it. The dark Hylian wondered for a while about his next move when the plants came at him again. This time they came at the same time and got him to slide backwards even more than before. Since they couldn't get a strike at their target as they wished they still could push him off of the edge.

Suddenly other one of the two plants gave out a whine before falling to ground in two parts. It vanished quite soon after that. Both Dark and the remaining creature blinked few times in full surprise at the loss of the monster. The death of the creature angered the remaining plant and it attacked even harder against the dark Hylian's shield. Dark gasped out and fought back against the force that was desperately trying to push him backwards into the moat.

Then, suddenly, the second one gave out that same kind of whine before dying. Dark blinked few times in confusion while carefully lowering the shield. It was then he noticed the four arrows on the ground. _"How come I never heard those coming?"_ The dark Hylian wondered while starting to look for who had actually shot them in the first place.

While Dark had been fighting with the two plants, Link had trouble with the tiger looking monster. The creature had lunged at him from its place and was quite certain of easy prey. But the Hero wasn't willing to die that easily.

Link crouched down in slight fear when the creature came at him. The monster realized way too late what was going to happen and it gave out that hissing growl while flying right over its prey and through the opening. Right after it had gone past the Hero, Link realized the mistake. _"Shit! Dark!"_ He thought in fear, shot up to his feet and turned around.

But the monster hadn't been lucky. The place where the ledge was, was in line with the moat. The tiger looking creature had jumped straight off into the extremely deep moat and vanished into the darkness of it. Link sighed in relief and leaned against the wall behind him. _"Darn, that had been way too close..."_ He thought while nearly getting another start and searching straight for the darker Hylian from the yard.

Link saw easily how the creatures were slowly pushing Dark towards the moat. He also witnessed how the monsters threw the darker Hylian's sword off into the well and nearly got a bite at the Hookshot. _"Well, Dark really can come with ideas but he's definitely needing help in there..."_ Link thought bit relieved to see that Dark hadn't been hurt and was fighting back with all he got.

The only thing the Hero could come up with to help the darker Hylian was the bow and arrows. He knew already that the plants were nothing like Deku Babas but at least he was going give it a shot and pray for the best. But timing the attack was something that was going to be hard. The creatures were fast and on move nearly constantly.

Link watched their movement for a long while. He needed to move fast since the edge of the moat was starting to be way too close to the darker Hylian but he also needed to learn the pattern and figure out their speed before letting the arrow fly. _"It's nothing more than a moving target... You've done this before... Well, not with this thin place to hit into but still... Just calm down, take aim and shoot..."_ The Hero thought, closed his eyes for a short while and taking a deep breath. After that he opened his eyes, readied the bow, closed other eye and took aim. Soon after that he shot the first arrow.

The first shot missed just by an inch since the creature pulled off of its attack. Link didn't wait at all. He took out next arrow and shot it nearly straight off at the monster. The first arrow had slightly puzzled the plant so it took a while before going for the next attack. That short while was what the Hero had needed for. The second arrow hit its target and cut the stalk in two.

The second monster was bit trickier to get since it was nearly in same line as Link was. The third arrow missed by going over the monster. And besides being on same line, the darker Hylian was quite well on his way too. Yet, Link could easily notice that the remaining plant was attacking way too fast for Dark to get away from there.

_"He's going to fall unless I can come up with something right now..."_ Link thought in panic. He readied the bow again and waited while watching the scene. _"The monster has to move once in a while to get back into attacking range... That's my chance..."_ He thought before very soon letting the arrow fly.

The creature pulled back from its latest attack, stood straight and started to take few fast steps closer to its target. The plant was just going to smash its head against Dark's shield again when the arrow cut straight through the monster's stalk. Link watched bit relieved at the scene. He sighed once while leaning against the wall behind himself and grinned a bit when he realized that Dark was trying to figure out where the arrows had come from.

Dark raised his gaze up since the arrows had to have come from higher ground in the first place. That was when he noticed the Hero. "LINK!" The dark Hylian screamed very happily while standing up and turning fully towards him.

Link waved and nodded. "Seemed like you were having a bit of trouble at there, Dark, so I thought to give a bit of helping hand!" He shouted back with slight chuckle.

Dark laughed a bit with a smile and nodded. "How did you get in there? I mean that, that ledge hadn't been visible when we looked around but now since you're there..." He started and shrugged. "Need help of getting away?" The dark Hylian continued his inquiry.

Link shrugged. "The door's locked and this small pathway seems to be a dead end. So, let's see if I can find another way out..." He replied and crouched down while searching for a way to climb down from there. Dark watched bit worriedly how Link climbed on the wall and came down to the edge of the moat.

The Hero held on to the vines with his right hand while getting his Hookshot out. "Willing to give a helping hand?" He questioned while aiming the device towards Dark. The darker Hylian nodded and took out his own Hookshot.

"Same way as at that water area?" Dark questioned while aiming the hook of the equipment towards Link's Hookshot. Link nodded and the darker Hylian looked once around. "Just give me a sec... I need to make sure I'm able to pull you to here in the first place." He stated out while walking further off from the edge.

The dark Hylian couldn't find anything he could hold on to so he just sighed, turned around and aimed the weapon at Link again. "Wish this works..." He whispered while nodding to the Hero. Link nodded back and shot the hook. Dark did the exact same thing while leaning backwards and crouching down.

The hooks tangled together once again and Link let go of the wall on the second he felt the pull. Dark tried to take a grip on the grass while fighting back with his legs. The Hero let the hook off soon after he had crossed the wide moat. Dark noticed Link's work and opened his own Hookshot's hook so the devices let go of each other.

Link did a fast somersault after hitting the ground while Dark fell down to the grass into a sitting position. "So... That was interesting..." Link stated while getting up. Dark just sighed and nodded. The Hero walked to him and offered his hand to the dark Hylian. "Want to fetch your sword from the well?" He asked with a wide grin.

Dark dropped his gaze down thoroughly embarrassed. "You saw that...?" He asked in slight whine. Link chuckled and crouched down in front of him.

"Yeah. But think it this way: You don't have to explain where and how you lost the sword." The Hero replied without the grin vanishing at all. Dark sighed and slumped a bit.

"Let's just fetch my sword..." He mumbled and stood up without daring to look at Link. The Hero chuckled a bit and followed the darker Hylian. They walked to the well and leaned over it. Dark frowned while trying to look as deep into the water as possible. "I can't see my sword..." He whined desperately.

"Neither can I..." Link replied before already climbing over the edge and jumping into the water. Dark gasped a bit in slight shock. "Wait here. I'll go check if I can find your sword." The Hero stated but before he could dive, Dark stopped him.

"Wait... I can do that..." He replied but he was slightly hesitating. Link shook his head and carefully took Dark's hand off of his tunic.

"I can dive deeper than you even without the Zora Tunic. I'll go to check things off and I'll bring your sword up if I find it." The Hero stated reassuringly. Dark sighed but nodded. "I'll be back in no time, Dark, don't worry." Link continued, smiled and dived then.

Dark couldn't shake off his feelings. He knew Link could dive better and deeper than him but the water looked... The dark Hylian wasn't fully sure of what it looked like but it certainly wasn't normal. Sighing he leaned over the edge and touched the water. It did feel like water and all but there was something different in it. _"I can't let him go alone!"_ Dark thought and without second though dived right into the water.

Link could feel something following him. He had already gotten quite deep and he saw the sword lying on the bottom of the well. But the feeling of something following him got the Hero to turn around. Those red eyes freaked him out quite harshly and he was just going to reach out for his Hookshot when a realization hit him. _"They're not as gleaming and glowing like that cat's eyes were... Or with the Moblins. _That's_ what was wrong at then..."_

Link waited for a short while before frowning. _"Dark... I told him to stay put..."_ He thought bit angrily, turned around again and continued to the bottom of the well. He put the iron boots on for a short while so he could take the sword up. Suddenly something hit into him quite harshly.

Dark swam as hard as he could while getting deeper. He had had a fear of water long ago but it still did come to bite him from time to time. And now was one of those situations when he would've gladly been out of the water and on the dry land.

The dark Hylian noticed that Link realized him to have followed. He saw the angry look on the Hero's face and Dark slumped a bit. _"Um... Sorry...?"_ He thought while trying to look as apolitical as possible. The dark Hylian would've sighed in relief when Link turned his back to him and continued down. Dark followed but he knew to have to go back up soon or he'd run out of air.

The ex-shadow was just going to turn around and head back to surface when he noticed something. A long serpent like fish was coming out of the shadows of the well. Dark frowned a bit. The fish itself wasn't anything odd but the eyes were. Gleaming and glowing red eyes. The realization hit Dark hard and he dove towards Link as fast as he could without caring whether or not he'd drown.

Dark hit into Link and got him to stumble a bit. The Hero turned around both surprised and angry. He didn't know who or what had crashed up with him but the Hero certainly had a good guess about it. Link was just going to glare at Dark quite angrily but that turned into horror on the second he noticed what was going on.

The serpent had taken Link for its target when Dark came between. The change of objective didn't really matter to the creature as long as it could attack something. The water was its home and it could move fluently and fast in it so it was easy for the creature to wrap the tail around the dark Hylian.

The grip of the tail was strong and tightening whole time. Dark cried out which only got him to freak out even more when the water came into his mouth and no sound came out. The serpent grinned while it slammed the dark Hylian against the wall of the well with full force. Dark gasped and fell unconscious.

The serpent frowned a bit while loosening the grip and realizing to have knocked the target out. It sighed and turned to face Link but the Hero was ready for it. He had seen the creature strike Dark unconscious and on that second Link took out his Hookshot.

The monster was bit startled when the hook came right towards its head. The creature tried to escape but the Hookshot had gotten too close and it pierced through the serpent and divided the monster into two. The watery beast vanished very soon after that.

Link took the sword up very quickly while putting the Hookshot away. Right after that he took the Iron Boots off, took a firm grip on Dark and left towards the surface. Once he emerged from the water the Hero threw the sword into the dry ground and started to pull the darker Hylian out of the water. Link was in bit of panic when he started to give CPR to Dark.

Luckily it didn't take long before Dark started to cough out the water and Link helped him to his side. The Hero sighed in relief but he frowned very soon when the dark Hylian started to shiver badly and curled up into a small ball. "Dark?" Link called worriedly while carefully placing his hand over the darker Hylian's shoulder.

On the second Dark felt the touch on his shoulder he shot his eyes open and pulled backwards while sitting up. Both Hylians stared at each other for a while in shock. Link's feelings were more of surprise and confusion while Dark's were nearly pure fear. The darker Hylian blinked few times before calming down and dropping his gaze into the ground in shame. "Sorry..." He whispered quietly.

Link sighed in relief. He still remembered how hard it had been to get the dark Hylian out of the Water Temple during those first few years. Sure, Dark had followed him but once they got into the deeper diving, the one to the entrance of the Temple, the dark Hylian had frozen in fear and just sat at the middle area of the Temple while staring in near panic and terror at the water. Every other dive had been fast and not so deep but the last one... It really had taken hours from Link to convince Dark to follow him. Hell, the Hero had even taken off his own blue tunic and given it to the darker Hylian but it still took few hours before they finally got out of the place. And Dark had never explained his fear for the water.

"It's okay, Dark. Are you feeling any better yet?" Link eventually replied after calming down. Dark gave a small nod but didn't meet Link's eyes. "So... Um... I got your sword..." The Hero continued in lack of better words. He really would've loved to ask why in Goddesses names had the darker Hylian followed him in the first place but Dark looked enough freaked out of the whole situation so he let it drop.

That sentence eventually got Dark to raise his gaze up. He gave a small smile and nodded. "Thanks..." The dark Hylian whispered and took once a deep breath before continuing: "I'm sorry for following you but... I don't know. I just felt that you shouldn't be alone in there..."

Link sighed again and smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it. In a way you did save my life... Again..." He replied and slightly deadpanned with the last word. Dark gave a nervous chuckle and slight shrug. Link chuckled too and went to fetch the darker Hylian's sword. "How about we'd get bit of rest before continuing the way?" He asked while placing the sword next to Dark.

Dark sighed in relief while carefully tracing the sword's blade with a slight smile. He nodded to Link's suggestion and finally raised his gaze to meet Link's eyes. "Thanks... For both fetching my sword and saving my life." He said very genuinely. Link smiled and nodded.

"Don't mention it. Now... How about you'll sleep first and I'll keep eye on the surroundings?" The Hero suggested carefully. Dark yawned a little before nodding but there was something he needed to do first.

"Before that I'm going to dry the sword first." He half mumbled while going to find few huge leaves for the work. Link chuckled and went to stop him.

"I can do that. Just get some rest. I can check our gear on that time." The Hero stated out while guiding the darker Hylian to softer grass. Dark was way too tired and still bit out of it so he didn't fight back. While the ex-shadow fell asleep Link started to dry the swords and Hookshots as well as keeping eye on the surroundings.

After both of the Hylians had gotten bit of rest and their equipments were fully dry, the duo continued their way. Link had given another dive at the well in case there was another way forward but it was fully a dead end. So, they returned back into the main room of the Temple and walked into middle of it. "Where to now?" Dark questioned while looking around.

Link shrugged. He hadn't told about the tiger like creature to the darker Hylian but the Hero had a feeling that the fall hadn't killed it. "Maybe we should check the areas the way I did in the first place..." He started when suddenly the air was pierced by a scream. It startled both of the Hylians but Link was first one to recognize it. "_NAVI!_" He screamed out and started to run towards the way where the sound had come from without a second thought.

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I am extremely sure everyone wanted Navi back! XD

Oh, and I would love to hear stories of how you guys defeated the four flame thief poes. =) I will give my own explantion at next Saturday so you got time till then. ^.^ Thanks!

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A/N: And a cliffhanger ending. -.-' I just keep doing that. Sorry. ^^;

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	9. The Forest Temple, part 3

A/N:

**IMPORTANT!_ READ!_** I have several important announcements considering _Letters from Hyrule_ and few other things. I hope You can understand and forgive me for inconvenience. I am extremely sorry for this: **Letters from Hyrule_ will be on hiatus for the time being._**

**1)** The reason for hiatus is simple. Trying to write letters every other day is taking bit too much of time while planning few other things for Your happiness. Not to mention that before I had a letter or few written before updating but now it has caught up. There is a poll on my profile so I'm quite certainly going to be updating _Letters from Hyrule_ twice a week once I've got enough of answers and I have written more of replies. BUT for that I need to know what You guys think to be the best days to update. THANK YOU! And I'm really, really, extremely, terribly SORRY for this! T.T

**2) **I'm working with a Halloween Side Quest story for CaH Saga. I have the idea and I've started to write it. But I need time with it.

**3) **I'm also working with a new Advent Calendar thingy. This time I'm updating it in DeviantArt simply because it is informational thing. Once December comes, I'll be putting one Journal for each day. Name of this thing is simply _25 Tidbits of CaH Saga_.

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OMG! I AM EXTREMELY SORRY! T.T I'm so late that I can't even come up with good enough reasons for this! I woke up knowing that today's Saturday and updating the story but I fully forgot the futher the day went! And I just suddenly remembered that I was supposed to update the story! I hope You, my dear readers, can forgive me! T.T

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And my part of the fight with the Poe Sisters:

Blue and Red: I simply stood at the last step, shot arrows and waited after each strike for them to come back out of hiding. ^^;

Green: I got the puzzle done on the last second. XD And after that I climbed to the podium where I came from and worked the same way as with the two earlier Poes.

Purple: Spin Attack to get the right Poe out of the fake ones and the fast change to bow and arrows.

Yeah... I was bit of scaredy cat there. ^^; Not that of fast with the three first ones but lot safer. ;-)

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Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 9: The Forest Temple, part 3

"Link, wait!" Dark shouted after the Hero while running right behind him. Link didn't stop nor slowed down even one bit. He took another new route which he had never seen in the Temple before and just ran through the small hallway without giving even slightest notion to his surroundings. Dark was feeling equally worried for the blue fairy but he knew it to be very stupid to run into unknown place without being careful at all.

They came out into huge area surrounded by dark and thick forest. There were few pathways in higher ground and lot of thick branches. Several vines were hanging here and there. Link stopped running and looked around in search of Navi. Dark came to his side on the second the Hero found the fairy. "_NAVI!_" Link shouted out in fear.

The blue flying ball was fully cornered. There were four Deku Baba looking creatures around her and snapping their teeth at the fairy while trying to get a bite of her. They were just several inches off of the place where she had taken cover from. The small fairy was shaking like a leaf while staring at the creatures. From time to time she gave out a small shriek but the creatures couldn't touch her.

Link took out his bow and arrows. Without caring how much of the forest he was going to burn, he lit the arrow in fire and started to take aim. Dark's eyes widened in pure horror. "_NOO!_" He screamed and tied Link into a tight embrace.

The Hero was fully taken aback about the action and he dropped the bow and arrow into the ground. Since Link didn't concentrate into the magic anymore, the fire died out before hitting the ground. "The hell, Dark?! I gotta do something to help her!" He shouted and fought back.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead and strike them with fire if you really want those darn creatures to get the needed length to take a bite of her." Dark growled angrily while letting go of Link. That statement shocked the Hero badly.

"_W-What_?" He asked bewildered. Dark had already turned his gaze into the scene at midway of the ceiling of the place. He didn't glance at Link when he started to talk.

"Those creatures are called as _Fairy Eaters_. The name already gives out a lot. Fire is their way of growing and getting taller. Currently they're missing that short amount of length to get to her so Navi's safe for now." Dark explained and eventually looked at Link. "Let me handle this. I can get her into safety from there without even littlest scratch. I promise." He stated out before already starting to climb up to higher place without waiting for the Hero's reply.

Link watched worriedly from Dark to Navi and back. He wished that he could've done something more than just stand there and watch. Dark checked from time to time where the fairy was while searching for perfect spot for himself. Eventually he stopped at one branch far enough from the place where the fairy currently was at. The Fairy Eaters wouldn't have even slightest chances of striking into that area so it was safe place but the hard part was to get Navi to do what he had planned for.

"Navi." Dark called calmly. The fairy didn't even glance at him. "Navi, you gotta listen to me and do exactly as I say." The dark Hylian continued. "Do you trust me?" He eventually asked and got a fast shake for an answer. Dark sighed. "Navi, I don't want you to get hurt even slightest bit, alright? You're friend of Link's and anyone connected to him is a person I want to protect. You said it yourself. I don't have that evil aura around me anymore." Dark continued carefully. The fairy only gave a very small nod.

Dark nodded back. "Now... You need to calm down fully. The creatures can't touch you and you are thousand times faster than them." He started and kept his voice as confident and calm as possible even though he was feeling bit fearful about the situation. "If you do exactly as I say, you won't get hurt. I swear it. All you need to do is fly as fast as your wings can take you and right towards me at the moment I tell you to do it. Understood?" The dark Hylian continued and in her fear the small fairy gave a nod.

She didn't really have anything to say against the plan. The dark Hylian was her only chance of getting away from the situation and for some reason she was willing to trust his words. The fairy glanced once at Link before turning her gaze into Dark. She gulped once before trying her best to calm down. The snapping of the monsters' mouths were making it hard for her but she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

Dark watched the situation in full worry. He didn't know whether or not the fairy would do as he told her to. That and he really needed to find a pattern in the creatures movements. Eventually he narrowed his eyes and was just going to shout out for Navi to fly when the fairy cut him short. "_Wait!_ I'm not ready!" She screamed in fear. "Where am I supposed to fly into?" Navi continued worriedly.

Dark blinked few times. He had planned everything so well yet that small thing had fully slipped his mind but he came up with a solution in seconds. "My hat." He replied with a smile and took the black cap off. "I know you like to hide into Link's hat so why not mine too?" The dark Hylian continued with new confidence.

Navi sighed and nodded. She could do that. Hiding under Link's hat had been her favorite thing to do while going through Temples and what not. "Okay... That sounds like a good plan..." The fairy eventually said and nodded as confidently as she could. Dark nodded back. "Ready whenever you are..." Navi stated bit fearfully.

Dark waited for right time again before screaming out his order: "FLY! _NOW!_" The blue flying ball left on full speed right towards the dark Hylian. She kept her eyes closed while screaming in fear whole time. Dark flinched slightly at her screaming but stayed ready and once she got close enough he scooped the small fairy into his hat.

Navi shrieked even louder. "_THEY GOT ME! HEEELLPP!_" She still kept her eyes closed while fighting for her life. The small fairy was crying, screaming and trying desperately to get out of the hat.

The impact of the fairy getting into the hat was quite harsh. Dark hadn't been prepared at all to the fast and quite strong pull, so he lost his balance on the branch and cried out when he started to fall backwards. "_DARK!_" Link screamed out in fear but sighed in relief when he realized that the dark Hylian had managed to tangle his legs around the branch.

Dark was hanging upside down on the branch while holding tightly to his hat. The fairy was pulling the hat forward so it was bit hard for the dark Hylian to stay put and hold on to the said hat. "Calm down, Navi. You're safe." He stated out after having calmed down by himself from the fall.

The struggling lightened up a bit but didn't fully stop. "You're out of their reach and unharmed." Dark continued while carefully taking better grip on his hat and opening it. He heard the fairy gasp and in an instant she was at the rim of the hat and looking right at him. "See? Everything's fine now." The dark Hylian continued with a slight smile.

Navi sighed in relief and relaxed fully. "I really would like to get back up to the branch if that's okay with you..." Dark stated out bit hopefully. The fairy blinked few times but backed back into the end of the hat while staying calm. The dark Hylian sighed, took a better grip on the hat and started to get himself back up to the branch. He was fully careful with the hat and once he got to sit back on the branch he opened the hat once again.

The blue fairy came back up but she didn't leave the safety of the hat at all. "So... It might be best if you stayed inside the hat while I get back down. Those creatures stay out of notion as long as there's no fairies around but when one comes close enough... Well, they show themselves off..." Dark explained carefully while slowly moving his hat back onto his head. Navi followed the movement fluently and very soon found herself a nice and comfy place in the dark Hylian's black hair. Dark blinked few times in surprise when he felt the fairy find a nice little nest underneath the hat. He chuckled a bit with a smile. _"So this is what Link felt each time she hid underneath his hat..."_ The dark Hylian thought before starting to find a way back down.

"You okay?" Link questioned straight off once Dark got to solid ground. The dark Hylian nodded.

"You can come out now, Navi." He stated out with a calm voice. The fairy raised the hat a bit and glanced around before already zooming straight from one hat into another. Link yelped in slight surprise while Navi made herself at home underneath the green hat she had learned to like. Dark gave a slight grin at the sight. "Looks like your hat is bit more comfortable than mine, huh?" He told out his observation with a chuckle.

Link smiled and gave a small nod. "Maybe..." He replied and sighed then in relief. "Thanks for saving Navi, Dark. I really appreciate it." The Hero continued and smiled widely and very happily. Dark shrugged.

"It's nothing... So, I think it would be nice to hear how things went with the princess..." The dark Hylian replied. He had fully relaxed from the situation. The fairy poked her head out of the hat before carefully coming fully out and flying right in front of Link's face before landing onto the Hero's hand which he had extended for her.

Navi sighed and nodded. "Right..." She whispered while sitting down and eventually raising her gaze to meet Link's blue and waiting eyes. "Um... Zelda couldn't get any connection to any of the Sages..." The fairy eventually said sorrowfully.

The blue ball could feel Link stiffen out at that revelation. "W-What...?" He asked and gulped once. "This is not good. Not good at all..." The Hero continued but tried to calm down.

"She tried several times but nothing..." Navi continued quietly. She felt horrible for bringing such bad news. "She is still trying to get connection but she's happy to know that you're already trying to figure things out." The fairy told and kept a short break while sighing sadly. "Zelda said she'll try and talk with the Goddesses in hopes of getting some news of what's going on." Navi eventually stated out.

Link sighed and nodded. "Maybe we can get some news once we get this place handled... And hopefully we can save Saria..." He answered but the last line came out in more of whisper than confident words. Navi nodded and hid right back into Link's hat.

"I'll come along." She said as confidently as she could but her voice was trembling. Link sighed and shook his head while turning to look at Dark. The darker Hylian looked quite worried and he too shook his head.

"I don't think that's wise, Navi." He started carefully and the blue fairy poked her head out of Link's hat.

"Why not?!" She half barked. "I'm staying with Link!" Navi continued bit angrily and huffed while hiding back into the hat. Dark sighed and shrugged a bit.

"Unless you want us all to be in danger, then go ahead and tag along. But, you'd better know that there are at least three different kind of _Fairy Eaters_ around here. You were lucky with those four but rest... I'd rather not crash up with them." The dark Hylian explained while crossing his arms over his chest.

Navi came out again and looked slightly fearfully around. "Fairy Eaters?" She questioned with a shaking voice. Dark nodded. "_I WANT OUT OF HERE!_" The fairy screamed on top of her lungs, hid back into the hat and shook like a leaf.

Both Dark and Link jumped a bit at her high pitched shriek. Link sighed. "I can take you out of here but it will certainly slow our work at here..." He started and was just going to head back towards the way they had come from when Dark stopped him.

"I know a better way." The dark Hylian stated and pointed up to the ceiling. Link followed his indication but frowned quite soon because all he could see was the ceiling filled with green leaves. "I can take her out of here lot faster and safer." Dark continued confidently.

The fairy came out again. She was still shaking but she glanced at the darker Hylian bit expecting him to explain all. "I can climb up to there and make a way out. All she needs to do is fly straight down into a safer part of the forest. I'll make sure no-one, especially no birds, are going to follow her at all." Dark told out his plan.

Navi came out fully and pondered about the given idea for a while. "Are you sure you can confirm her safety?" Link questioned bit worriedly. The darker Hylian nodded confidently. "What do you say, Navi? I trust and believe him. It would be lot faster way too." He continued carefully while waiting for the fairy's reply.

The flying blue ball sighed but nodded. She hid underneath Dark's hat and closed her eyes while holding on tightly to the black hair. "Be careful, Dark." Link said while feeling bit nervous about the whole situation. Dark nodded and gave a reassuring smile before already starting to climb up towards the ceiling.

The climb up wasn't hard for the dark Hylian. There were lot of branches and several pathways on his route. Dark avoided all that looked even remotely towards Fairy Eaters. He wasn't eager to endanger the fairy's life even one bit. Soon he reached the ceiling.

Dark glanced once down and gulped. He was so high in there that it bit freaked him out. The dark Hylian took once a deep breath before fully steadying himself on the branch. After that he took out his sword and started to strike the ceiling of leaves as hard as he could. It took about five minutes of slashing before he managed to create a hole and the daylight came into the area.

Dark blinked few times to get his eyesight adjusted to the brighter light. After that he carefully stood up and pushed upper half of himself through the hole. The dark Hylian gasped a bit at the scene in front of him. He could see so far from there and it bit amazed him even though all he could see was the top of high trees.

"Okay, you can come out now." Dark whispered and Navi carefully poked her head out from the black hat. "Just fly bit higher from here and take then straight downwards into the forest. Do bit of zigzag to keep possible followers from catching you. Though, you don't have to worry 'bout those. I'll keep their notion on myself so you'll be fully safe." The dark Hylian explained his plan while the blue fairy carefully came fully out of her hiding place.

She looked once upwards before giving a quiet shriek and hiding back into the hat. Dark blinked few times in surprise but glanced up to see what had freaked her out again. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the hawk gliding around the sky. "Like I told you, I'll keep its notion on myself." Dark stated out confidently and kept his gaze in the bird.

Navi gave a small nod before coming again out of her hiding. She was trembling badly. "Just zoom into the safety. Don't look back and be about few feet above the Temple's roof. You'll be perfectly fine." Dark continued and glanced once at the fairy. She gave a slight nod before trying to calm down. Right after that Navi took off into the forest below as fast as her small wings could take her.

The hawk gave out a high pitched cry and left for a dive. Dark adjusted his sword and aimed the sunlight into the bird's eyes. The bid stopped for a second while taking height before diving again. The dark Hylian kept bothering the attacker over and over again until it gave up on its chase. The bird took height again and looked around. Suddenly it noticed the one bothering it and left for a new dive.

Dark tried to get the sunlight again into the bird's eyes but this time it saw what was going on and avoided all of the tries. The dark Hylian couldn't get back into the Temple fast enough before the bird struck at him. He had seen the hawk take the sharp talons forward for an attack and on that second he started to try and get away from there.

The talons hit into Dark's face while pushing him down and back inside the Temple. The bird couldn't follow its prey so it gave out disappointed cry and flapped its wings harshly to get away from the small hole. The dark Hylian screamed in near terror while falling back first from the branch he had been standing on. Suddenly he hit into another branch and Dark gasped in pain while his breath was knocked out by the impact.

"_DARK!_" Link screamed in horror and started to climb up towards the branch. The darker version of Master Sword had fallen off of Dark's hands when he hit into the branch. It clanged into the ground after the Hero had already started his climbing. _"Oh dear goddesses... No..."_ Link thought in full panic while climbing. He kept screaming out the darker Hylian's name over and over again in hopes of getting some kind of response from him.

Dark was lying on the branch. The only thing he was happy about was the fact that the branch had been on line with him and so he had fallen fully to it and not just partly. The dark Hylian kept trying to get some air into his lungs and bit of feeling into his limbs but so far it still was hard. He mostly kept his eyes closed but opened them once in a while. He really wished he could've answered to Link's callings but he barely could breath so talking was fully out of question.

Eventually Link came to the branch and carefully came closer. "Oh dear goddesses... _Dark_..." He whispered quietly in fear. "Can you move?" The Hero continued carefully while wishing he could do something more than just sit there and wait.

Dark was slowly getting his breathing in order. He glanced once towards Link before returning his gaze back to the ceiling. Carefully and very slowly he started to get his arms and legs to move a bit. Link sighed in relief. "At least nothing seems to be broken..." He said quietly.

Dark gave a small nod before offering his other hand towards Link. "Help a bit?" He half whined in quiet voice. Link blinked few times but was fast to comply. He carefully pulled Dark to a sitting position. Dark groaned slightly and slumped forward in slight pain. "I seriously don't recommend doing that..." He mumbled and shook his head a bit before taking once a deep breath to fully calm down.

Link waited in full worry for Dark to gather himself from that fall. "Are you hurt?" He eventually asked bit fearfully. The darker Hylian gave a small snort.

"You seriously asking that?" He questioned and raised his gaze to meet Link's eyes. The Hero was bit startled and gave a nervous chuckle before shrugging. Dark sighed and started finally to check his body fully. "Seems like I didn't break anything at least..." He started carefully before continuing: "So, besides the fall and hitting harshly to here... I'm not that of hurt."

Link nodded but started to frown when Dark finally raised his head fully up. "What?" The dark Hylian questioned bit worriedly. The Hero carefully brought his hand to Dark's face and wiped bit of blood off. The ex-shadow flinched slightly and blinked few times in surprise before sighing. "Seems like that darn bird did get a strike at me after all..."

Link sighed again. "It's not that bad, luckily. It won't leave any scars or such. They're quite shallow." He stated before carefully cleaning the blood off of Dark's face. The darker Hylian just closed his eyes and waited. He wasn't fully sure what he was supposed to do in the first place. "So... Um..." Link started but didn't really know how he could ask the question.

Dark sighed. "Navi's fine. She got to the forest safely. That darn hawk was only thing in the sky." He answered and took once a deep breath before opening his eyes. Link had stopped his work of cleaning the wounds. The Hero sighed in relief and nodded.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me." He stated with a smile. Dark nodded with a slight smile. "So... We probably should get down and continue our way, right?" Link continued bit hesitantly. He started to search for a way back down when something caught his interest. Once the thing of interest got into his full sight, the Hero frowned fully. "I hoped to get rid of that thing already..." He muttered bit angrily.

Dark frowned and followed Link's gaze before nearly stiffening in fear. "You've crashed with that thing before...?" He asked very quietly. Link frowned but nodded while turning to look at the darker Hylian.

"Dark...?" The Hero questioned worriedly. Dark gulped once while keeping his gaze in the orange cat. "You know the creature, right?" Link continued and got one simple nod for an answer. "What can you tell about it?" He continued but the darker Hylian stayed silent.

The tiger creature was sniffing around and very soon it found Dark's sword. Dark narrowed his eyes when the cat got the scent and gave a slight hissing growl. "Damn it..." He muttered when the beast started to look around. The dark Hylian moved carefully closer to Link before pulling him down and whispered into his ear: "Hide and don't you dare to move. If you want to help then strike with arrows into its neck once I've gotten the darn creature to stay put."

Link was bit shocked about the fear and anger in Dark's voice. He barely had a chance to register that the darker Hylian was already moving when the words struck. By that time Dark had already moved to higher branch while keeping whole time eye on the creature. Link sighed and moved carefully into more leafed area.

"Hey kitty-cat! Looking for me?" Dark called after he had gotten far enough from Link and stood up on one of the few pathways at there. The cat shot its eyes up and growled. It started to leap from branch to branch while getting higher very fast. Its movement was agile and precise. Dark looked once around before finding his way further up.

The tiger monster stood on its place for a while until Dark had stopped moving. "Come on kitty-cat! You think you can catch me, huh?" The dark Hylian mocked with a slight grin. The monster hissed back and got Dark nearly to jump slightly. The cat gave an evil grin before starting to get higher again.

Dark narrowed his eyes and waited. He wasn't going to get further up or away from there. He couldn't really fight the creature but at least he could give it a chance. The tiger monster was fast to find the way up so very soon it was crouching on higher branch and glaring angrily at Dark. "Don't like it when I call you _kitty-cat_, do you...Kitty-cat?" The dark Hylian asked with a grin. The monster gave a hissing growl and attacked.

Dark leaned backwards and brought his arms in front of him for protection. The tiger crashed fully on him and bit into the dark Hylian's right arm. Dark kept the creature's upper half bit off of the branch while gritting his teeth in pain. The monster was standing on its hind legs while the left front paw's claws were struck deep into Dark's right upper arm. The other claw-full paw was striking empty air while trying to find a place to strike into.

"Anytime now, Link!" Dark half growled out his command while fighting with the weight of the creature. The monster was whole time increasing its pressure into the bite. _"Damn it... It'll break my arm soon..."_ The dark Hylian thought in fear and pain.

Suddenly the tiger-monster growled in pain and let go of Dark's arm. Dark gasped in slight relief but he was fast to act. He adjusted his legs and kicked the creature off of the branch. Right after that he sat up and send quite powerful Din's Fire after the enemy. It hit into the unprotected chest of the target. The monster screamed in agony but it still managed to turn around and land on all four into the ground. It gave out loud hissing growl and stared madly straight at Dark.

"It would've been nice to have bit of _fire_ in the arrow!" Dark shouted angrily before already trying to find a way down. The creature was pacing around the ground while keeping its glowing red eyes at the darker Hylian.

"Well, I'm sorry for not knowing this darn monster!" Link shouted back but took new aim with his bow and arrows. "First tells not to use fire and now it would've been recommended... Damn it..." The Hero muttered angrily, closed his eyes and took once a deep breath to calm himself before lighting the arrow and trying to get a good shot at the creature.

Dark had reached the ground and stood on his place. The monster was still pacing and looking straight at its prey. It gave a hissing growl again and Dark slightly flinched at that while dropping his gaze to ground. He took once a deep breath before raising his gaze and shaking his head. The creature hissed madly and left for an attack. Dark took a bit better stance while narrowing his eyes.

Link let the arrow fly but it missed the target. He growled and cursed slightly while being fast to take new arrow and aim it again. The creature was way too fast for the Hero to shoot at it. _"Damn it... Dark, you'd better be ready..."_ Link thought in slight fear. He thought about just using Din's Fire from there but it wouldn't be of any use. The distance between him and the monster was way too huge so the magic would lose its strength or vanish fully before the target.

Dark noticed the arrow and sighed a bit. _"At least he's trying..."_ He thought while concentrating fully into the attacking monster. _"I'm sorry, **Cien Kotek**."_ Dark thought sorrowfully but the last two words were said with the same kind of hissing as the monster had been using. The creature nearly stopped with a start before lunging at Dark and that was when the dark Hylian attacked.

Dark called out Din's Fire and let it fly. He didn't concentrate even one bit into the strength of the magic so it came out with full force. The dark Hylian recoiled backwards with the shock of how hard he did hit the creature. The tiger-monster screamed in pure agony while flying through the air nearly into the other side of the area. It crashed to its back while burning and screaming in pain. The creature trashed harshly while screaming whole time in agony. Dark stared in horror with wide eyes at the scene. When the creature finally vanished into smoke, the dark Hylian crashed to his knees into the ground. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." He whispered quietly while silently crying.

Link stared at the scene fully bewildered about what he had witnessed. Once the monster was gone and Dark crashed to the ground, the Hero started to make his way down. "Dark?" Link called once he got to the solid ground and watched the shaking darker Hylian in mix of feelings.

Dark raised his gaze slowly up and slumped in fear. He gulped once before already dropping his gaze back to ground while shutting his eyes tightly. "I... I'm... I'm sorry..." The darker Hylian whispered quietly and waited for Link's reaction. He slumped even more when the Hero started to walk towards him.

Link was getting more worried for the darker Hylian than being shocked about the power of the attack. He walked carefully to Dark and crouched down in front of him. "Dark." The Hero started carefully and when Dark flinched at his voice, it saddened him quite a much. "Where did you learn such strong magic?" Link continued with a steady voice.

Dark gulped once while trying to find his voice. "A... At the G-Gerudo Fortress..." He half mumbled. Link frowned at the answer.

"Can they really teach one to be so strong with magic?" He questioned confused. The darker Hylian gulped once again and shook his head.

"The... They only taught me the basics..." Dark answered with slightly trembling voice. "The strength... It... It was... It..." He tried to continued but eventually fell silent. _"He'll kill me... This is way too much... I'm too strong in magic..."_ Dark thought while breaking down again.

"What about the strength?" Link inquired while feeling bad for Dark's reaction. The darker Hylian stayed long quiet while crying. "Dark?" The Hero called carefully. He was getting whole time even more worried for Dark's condition because of the bleeding arm.

"I-it..." Dark whispered before gulping once in hopes of steadying his voice a bit. "It's... Natural..." He eventually said and fell fully silent after that. _"Oh dear goddesses... I'm dead..."_ Dark thought while trying to fight against the tears and ready himself for what was to come.

Link was quite startled about the answer. "Natural?" He questioned and Dark gave a small nod. "Wow... I can't match that strength even slightest bit." The Hero whispered quietly before chuckling a little. "I'd better not get on your bad side. Hell, I doubt the Hylian shield or the Mirror Shield could deflect _that_ strength." Link continued with a wide grin.

Dark flinched and waited fearfully to hear either the Master Sword being taken out or then some other weapon. He gasped in shock and shot his eyes open when Link gave a slight shove to him. "Honestly, Dark, lighten up a bit." Link stated confidently.

Dark was still slumping but he raised his fearful, teary and confused gaze up to him. "You're... You're not going to... Kill me?" He asked with slightly trembling voice.

Link nearly jumped at that. "Kill you? Are you serious?" He asked almost bewildered. Dark gave a small nod. The Hero sighed and was close to facepalm. "Tell me even one good reason why I would do something like that after all these years." Link stated nearly commandingly.

Dark gulped again. "Because of the strength of my magic..." He answered very quietly in near pure fear. The darker Hylian recoiled backwards when Link started to laugh.

"If that would be a reason to kill someone then Zelda would've been dead long ago." The Hero stated with a wide grin. "Hell, had I not lived in Kokiri but instead of at the castle, even _I_ would've been strong with magic." Link continued while searching for a bottle of red potion from his pocket and offered it to the darker Hylian. Dark reluctantly took it and drank it. He was still feeling bit fearful and nervous about the Hero but he was very slowly calming down.

"Honestly, though, I don't understand what you're scared of." Link started while standing up and walking bit away from the darker Hylian. He turned around and looked at Dark with slight frown. "It's been nearly seven years and you're still afraid of me. I would gladly hear the reason for it." The Hero continued while crossing his arms over his chest. Dark stayed silent and dropped his gaze to ground again.

Link sighed and closed his eyes while starting to rub his forehead. "Dark..." He started before sighing again. "That's not even all... You're acting strangely. From time to time you're confident and then all of sudden you're like... I don't know... A kid. And that confuses me. When I think that I've figured out at least _something_ about you, you act nearly straight off thoroughly differently and..." The Hero explained and while talking he dropped his hands down and stared at Dark. "I really don't know how I'm supposed to act with you." Link eventually stated.

Dark sighed sadly and carefully stood up. He leaned his back against the closest tree and kept his eyes still in the ground. The dark Hylian still stayed silent and waited for Link to continue. The Hero sighed nearly exaggerated and turned around while shaking his head. "Just forget that I said anything..." He half mumbled but suddenly he turned around and half glared at Dark. "_Why can't you just forget the past and move on, huh?!_ Leave the memories where they're supposed to be and don't dwell on them. Just... Concentrate to what is and not what was. What I'm meaning is that... You gotta start to make your life to be what you _want _it to be." Link nearly screamed the first sentence and the rest came with slight anger and desperation.

Dark flinched slightly and shot his eyes open in start. _"Leave the past behind... I think I can do that..."_ He thought and eventually grinned slightly. Link frowned a bit while watching how the darker Hylian relaxed, straightened up and eventually opened his eyes with new confidence.

"Um... Dark...?" The Hero questioned bit worriedly. Dark took once a deep breath and chuckled slightly.

"Thanks for the best advice so far." The dark Hylian stated calmly. Link just nodded but was feeling bit off. He had no idea what had just happened but he sighed quite soon.

"You do realize you're doing it again..." The Hero stated while facepalming.

"Doing what again?" Dark questioned bit confused.

Link sighed. "Mood change... That's what." He stated exaggerated. Dark chuckled slightly and shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I got lot of personal problems going on... If that's said right..." The dark Hylian replied with a grin. Link looked at him nearly deadpanning and raised an eyebrow at that. "But... Tell you what... I'll give you a promise like you did about six months ago." Dark continued confidently.

"What kind of promise?" Link inquired. Dark took once a deep breath.

"That I will talk about my past once I feel ready and confident enough." The ex-shadow replied. Link sighed and nearly rolled his eyes at the reply. Dark chuckled bit nervously. "Of course, you can keep asking and try to get me to talk... Or then break me down and make me talk eventually..." He continued while losing his confidence quite fast.

Link sighed and shook his head. "I'm not going to break you down, Dark. I care about you too much to hurt you." He stated and nodded then. "Alright. I'll accept your promise. No matter how long it'll take, I'll be waiting." The Hero continued with a smile.

Dark sighed in relief. "Thank you. You won't regret it." He stated confidently and nodded with a smile. Link sighed.

"Right..." He mumbled but walked then to get Dark's sword. The darker Hylian followed him and took gladly the offered weapon back. _"How long am I supposed to wait then? Few years? Decade? Longer? Well, now's not the time to talk about his past but I'd love to know at least _some_ parts of it..."_ Link thought bit sadly while heading back towards the way they had come from.

Dark seethed the sword and followed Link. They took the road bit more carefully than while going through it in the first place. Still, there were no monsters around. _"At least he backed off for now... I think I can finally calm down and concentrate to my current life instead of the past... Though, once all's cleared and all, I _will_ talk with him... I just need time... And confidence... _Definitely_ confidence... And not forgetting courage... That's something I'm seriously lacking... Though, everything else will go on their own weight... I hope..."_ The dark Hylian thought but shook his head then to clear his thoughts. _"Future... _Not_ past... Concentrate into _future_."_ He reminded himself while trying to hold on to his newly found confidence and courage.

They returned back into the main room. "So... Where now?" Dark questioned while looking around the dim room. Link thought for a while before choosing his way towards stairs that were on slightly higher ledge.

"If you are to gain same equipment that I have, then why not check if you can get them from same rooms that I did." Link replied with a grin. Dark nodded.

"Sounds like a worthy try." He answered and climbed up to the ledge right after Link. The door at the end of the stairs was unlocked. The Hero led the way while looking around in the small pathway. There were no monsters around so they got to the second door without problems.

Link grinned a bit when he saw the Blue Bubble flying around. "There's at least something that even _I_ know." He stated while taking out his sword and shield. Dark put his hand over the Hero's shoulder to hold him on one place.

"I wouldn't count on that, Link... Remember those Moblins?" The darker Hylian replied while watching the flying skull that had blue fire surrounding it. "It might not be what you've learned to deal with." Dark continued and nodded to the short ladder behind the creature. "What I think is that we should avoid it and head forward." He continued bit worriedly.

Link sighed. "I guess you're right." He answered but grinned then while changing his sword and shield into bow and arrows. Right after that he started to take aim before letting the arrow fly. It was perfectly aimed and hit straight into the target. The monster stopped moving, gave out a slight cry and vanished while crashing into pieces. The Hero chuckled a little and shrugged. "I think it _was_ a normal Blue Bubble." He stated with a grin.

Dark sighed but chuckled then. "Well, better safe than sorry, right?" He replied and followed then Link forward into the route. They climbed up the ladders and followed the yellow arrows on the ground until coming to bit longer ladders. After climbing up and coming past the corner they saw two more Blue Bubbles.

Link handled the two monsters without trouble. They didn't need to go anywhere close to them at all. Once the way was cleared, The Hero took the lead again. "Seems like we don't need keys..." Link stated out while opening the door. Dark just shrugged.

"Better on that way. No need to go to and fro while searching for keys and wondering where the right door was." He replied grinning. "Though, the room seems to be bit... Off..." Dark continued while looking at the twisted corridor.

"Not much of surprise. The place is under evil again so the rooms are equally changed too." Link said while just calmly walking forward. Dark was bit nervous about the twisted route but followed the Hero. He was slightly surprised to see how it kept straightening while walking forward on it. "Strange, isn't it?" Link questioned while glancing behind with a grin.

Dark huffed a bit and shrugged. "Maybe." He replied with a matching grin. Link chuckled but he stopped walking right at the edge of the next room. The darker Hylian frowned a bit but sighed then. "The Wallmaster." Link nodded and took then once a deep breath.

"Let's move fast. If we're lucky the next door is unlocked too." The Hero said and took bit of speed before jumping to the first pillar. Dark gave him bit of head start before following as fast as possible. When he got to the second pillar and on that way to the door, Link had already opened it.

Link sighed in slight relief when he closed the door behind them. "You really don't like those Wallmasters, do you?" Dark questioned with slight grin. The Hero gave him half-hearted glare.

"If you would've seen those darn overgrown hands, you would be freaked out too." Link answered and started to head towards the stairs. Dark chuckled a bit but he had heard the Hero's explanation about the monsters before and the description of the hand had scared him quite a much already at then. "So... Behind that door, as you probably remember me telling this before, was the fight with a Stalfos and even two more after the first one." Link explained and walked to the door. "Ready?"

Dark nodded. "There might not be anything but let's just check it out." He answered while letting Link open the door. "At least the room doesn't have that hole in it as it did during your first fight." The dark Hylian observed while carefully walking further into the round room.

Suddenly the bars crashed down in front of the door. Both Link and Dark nearly jumped at the sound while turning around. "Oh... Shit..." Dark whispered while taking out his sword and shield. Link followed his example and walked next to him. Without any warning the wall crashed down from two different parts at the other side of the room. The two Hylians turned around in a flash and ready to fight.

Two Stalfos' came into the room with full golden body armor. In one hand they had an axe and in the other was a sword. "Ever fought these before?" Dark questioned while gulping. Link shook his head but tried to stay calm. The Stalfos' walked forward and drew out two more hands and swords out.

Link and Dark took a step backwards in shock. The armored skeletons gave out a cry and slashed the air with all four weapons of theirs. The monsters were bit taller than the Hylians. "You got anything to tell about these?" Link inquired while starting to round the area and keeping eye on the enemy.

Dark gulped and shook his head while following the Hero. "Never seen them before and there's never been any rumors either..." He replied while trying desperately to calm down and get ready for the fight.

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Okay, few simple questions:

1) **Cien Kotek**. What does that mean? You can use dictionaries for your help. The answer is given at next update, so until then you got time to give your answers.

2) What are the creatures that Link and Dark has just encoutered?

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A/N: And a cliffhanger ending. -.-' I just keep doing that. Sorry. ^^;

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	10. The Forest Temple, part 4

A/N:

**IMPORTANT!_ READ!_** I have several important announcements considering _Letters from Hyrule_ and few other things. I hope You can understand and forgive me for inconvenience. I am extremely sorry for this: **Letters from Hyrule_ will be on hiatus for the time being._**

**1)** The reason for hiatus is simple. Trying to write letters every other day is taking bit too much of time while planning few other things for Your happiness. Not to mention that before I had a letter or few written before updating but now it has caught up. There is a poll on my profile so I'm quite certainly going to be updating _Letters from Hyrule_ twice a week once I've got enough of answers and I have written more of replies. BUT for that I need to know what You guys think to be the best days to update. THANK YOU! And I'm really, really, extremely, terribly SORRY for this! T.T

**2) **I'm also working with a new Advent Calendar thingy. This time I'm updating it in DeviantArt simply because it is informational thing. Once December comes, I'll be putting one Journal for each day. Name of this thing is simply _25 Tidbits of CaH Saga_.

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So, here's the answers to earlier chapter's questions:

**Cien Kotek** is Polish and stands for words 'shadow' and 'cat'. And no, I can't speak Polish nor write it. I checked it from web dictionary. ^^; It just sounded cool enough for the part. ;-)

And the two Stalfos' are Stalmasters from Skyward Sword. ^^; Thought they'd fit. ;-)

Also, since last time I was fully in late, this time I'm early! =D Should even things out. ;-)

Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 10: The Forest Temple, part 4

The four of them rounded each other for a while. Dark stayed close to Link but gave him the distance to be able to fight without trouble. The two strange Stalfos' swung their weapons from time to time while staying on move and keeping their eyes on their targets. The Hero glanced at the darker Hylian before nodding and finally going for an attack. Dark followed without hesitation.

The two Stalfos', Stalmasters, stopped and waited for the two Hylians to get closer. After that they took their weapons close to their body and flexed their arms to the limit. Both Hylians figured the attack quite fast and they nearly simultaneously jumped backwards. Right after that they were forced to back off again to avoid the oncoming attacks. The three swords and one axe came towards them very fast and with full strength. After the first attack of slashing the weapons outwards from their bodies, the weapons were struck two at a time on diagonal strike.

After that the Stalmasters brought the weapons into a square right in front of them while still coming forward. Link grinned and thrust the sword straight through the unprotected area. Dark didn't follow Link's example. Instead he kept on backing off from the enemy. The Hero kept on attacking the Stalmaster he had chosen for his target while the darker Hylian kept retreating. Few of Link's strikes clanged into the enemy's weapons but most found their target. The Hylian was fast with his moves and avoided swiftly the attacks while learning about his target.

The room was small and very soon Dark had backed off into a wall. The Stalmaster swung its huge blades towards him but the dark Hylian dove out of the way, somersaulted and stood back to his feet. He went for an attack but the skeletal warrior was faster than he had expected and the darker version of Master Sword clanged with the axe. Right after that the Stalmaster started to swing its weapons at Dark and the Hylian had to block the strikes with his sword. The attacks were strong and got the ex-shadow to back off step after step.

Unlike with Link the second Stalmaster that Dark fought with didn't bring the weapons in front of it and allow the dark Hylian to strike through the unprotected area. The creature kept on attacking and slashing with the weapons while forcing Dark to back off whole time. The Hero saw the situation but he couldn't do much of other than keep the monster he fought against with off of the way. The second Stalmaster was trying to get Dark to back off into the line of fighting of its comrade and so get a strike or few in.

Dark was starting to figure out the way the strange Stalfos was attacking and eventually managed to strike back. He avoided the oncoming attack instead of blocking it and slashed against the monster's legs. The strike found its target and the dark Hylian started to change the situation for his own favor. Yet, after couple of successful attacks, the Stalmaster changed its ways while proving very effectively to be able to use all four weapons simultaneously with different patterns.

Dark was fully in trouble. He was once again forced to back off while either blocking or avoiding the attacks. The shield was nearly constantly having strikes dealt into it . The dark Hylian tried to find a new chance to attack but this time the strikes were unpredictable. Suddenly one of the swords hit into the shield very harshly and in bit of difficult angle while forcing the blockage off of the way. The second attack, also done by a sword, forced the dark Master Sword out of the way and the move left the ex-shadow vulnerable for further strikes.

Dark's eyes widened in fear when the axe and remaining sword came towards him. Instead of striking into his flesh, the weapons struck into the ground and brought dust, dirt and other things up from the ground. It all struck right into the dark Hylian's face and straight into his eyes. Dark screamed out in shock and pain while backing off.

He kept blinking over and over again but couldn't clear his eyesight. He tried to clean his eyes by rubbing at them but it didn't help at all. Instead, it felt like making things even worse. Dark kept on backing away from the creature in hopes of staying safe.

Link had heard the slight screeching sound when the sword and axe hit the ground. He turned to see what was going on and witnessed the very dirty trick of the monster. Lucky for Dark, he had just avoided the next strike that was coming right after that cruel trick. Yet, the Hero could easily see that the darker Hylian was in full danger and unable to fight for his life. "_DARK! LOOK OUT!_" Link screamed out when the Stalmaster got close enough and swung its weapons at its target.

The Hero knew he wouldn't be able to get to help the darker Hylian in time so all he could do was to watch while still fighting with the other strange Stalfos. Dark twitched slightly when he heard Link's warning but that wasn't what he was listening to. And very soon he surprised Link thoroughly by being able to avoid the oncoming attack and few next ones without much of trouble.

Link sighed in relief, struck the Stalmaster off of his way and started to run towards the darker Hylian. Dark twitched again and turned towards the sound with his sword ready. Once the sound of something coming towards him was close enough, the ex-shadow swung his sword.

Link gasped in bewilderment and managed to back off just in time. "_What the hell, Dark?!_" He shouted in alarm. Dark recoiled backwards in near terror.

"_L-Link?!_" The dark Hylian cried out in horror. Very soon the feeling changed into anger. "You could've warned me! I can't freaking see so I go by hearing!" He screamed out but right after that he shot forward, took a grip on the Hero and pulled him towards himself while backing off.

The two swords missed Link's right arm just barely. The Hero gasped in full surprise and just stumbling followed the darker Hylian who was trying desperately to keep him off of the harm's way. Once Link got over the first shock, he finally got his balance back and was fully aware of the ongoing situation. "Dark." The Hero stated confidently while half ripping his arm out of Dark's hold.

"I can't fight but I can keep myself safe." The dark Hylian answered carefully. Link nodded while still backing off from the two Stalmasters with Dark.

"I'll handle the other one of the two and come for your help after that. Just keep yourself alive." The Hero said in bit of commanding voice before already attacking the Stalmaster he had been fighting with. Dark only gave a nod before concentrating with the remaining monster.

Link forced the strange Stalfos away from the other one. He wasn't eager to use more of time than needed and so the Hero attacked quite fiercely against the monster. He slashed through the smallest given chances without hesitation and went even bit foolishly to attack when the creature was striking at him. So far he had had luck with him and slowly the fight was turning for his favor.

The Stalmaster was getting tired and weak from the attacks. It was trying to get strikes in but the hits were slow and lacked the strength. Knowing that its time was running out, the monster went for one last idea in hopes of getting at least something done.

The Stalmaster put all of the four weapons together and held them with all four hands of it. The monster put all of its last strength into the attack and swung the weapons at the Hero. Link had to start to back off since the attacks were too powerful to block and even too wide to avoid. The main trick was that the creature separated the weapons during the strike and covered four different heights during the attack and so preventing the chance of either jumping over or ducking under it.

_"Shit... What now?"_ Link wondered while backing off of the attacks. He glanced towards Dark and narrowed his eyes. The darker Hylian was being forced to retreat towards him. _"I gotta end this fight before Dark gets this far..."_ The Hero thought in slight panic but suddenly grinned.

The Stalmaster stopped and half doubled over while panting. Link didn't wait even one second. He went for an attack and struck as hard as he could. The move went past its target since the monster stood back up to its full height. The strange Stalfos was just going to get the next powerful attack ready when Link slashed again. This time it hit its target and cut the Stalmaster into two.

The monster cried out before crashing to the ground and vanishing into darkness. The second Stalmaster glanced towards the sound and half gasped. It looked from Dark to Link and back. It was alone against two Hylians but soon it grinned again. The darker Hylian was out of the fight because of not being able to see and the other one was exhausted from the earlier fight. Knowing better than going after Dark, the creature turned around and left for an attack.

Dark heard the Stalmaster leaving him. "Link!" The dark Hylian called out a warning bit worriedly. The Hero turned around and straight off started to back off when the second monster came at him. The ex-shadow stood on his place bit fearfully while trying to figure out a way to help. Eventually he closed his eyes and just listened. _"You've done this before... You can do it again..."_ Dark thought and tried to calm down.

_"Two different kinds of walking. One muffled... Rattling... Like chains... Sound of wind..."_ Dark thought while listening as carefully as he could. He slowly was indentifying Link's movement from the strange Stalfos'. Soon the dark Hylian left slowly to walk towards the fight. He swirled the sword in his hand from time to time while concentrating fully into the sounds that surrounded him. Suddenly he tapped the tip of the sword into the ground couple of times.

Link watched bit confused and worriedly at Dark's movement. He was still trying to figure out a way to break through the monster's defense but so far he hadn't found any of way for it. The Hero was still backing off and blocking the attacks while the darker Hylian was slowly but surely coming closer to the fight.

The Stalmaster frowned when it heard the tapping of something against the ground. It glanced once behind itself and glared at the darker Hylian. Yet, right after that it just shrugged and continued to concentrate into the ongoing fight. But the tapping sound continued and was getting into the monster's nerves. The creature growled, turned around and was going to attack Dark.

Dark stopped moving when he heard the strange Stalfos turn around. He took a stance and readied himself for the oncoming attacks. But that never happened. Link narrowed his eyes and attacked against the Stalmaster's unprotected back. The creature screamed out while taking a step forward. It turned around in a flash and blocked the Hero's next attack.

The three swords and axe were screeching against Link's Master Sword. The monster had more power than the Hero so the attack was slowly pushing him to lower the weapon. Dark frowned for a second before he realized where the screeching sound was coming from. Right after that he left for an attack. The darker Hylian ran towards the sound, jumped into the air and while coming downwards he slashed as hard as he could.

Dark had no idea if he would hit or not but it was worth a shot. Link realized the darker Hylian's plan quite fast. He let the power push his sword down and backed off right after that. The ex-shadow had surprisingly good aiming... Or then it was just pure luck on his side.

The strike hit very strongly into the monster's side and got the creature to recoil backwards while screaming in pain. Dark backed off too in bit of fear for a counterattack. The Stalmaster glared at the two Hylians, growled and ran for an attack.

Link pushed Dark backwards while heading for an attack. The darker Hylian gasped slightly in surprise and took few steps backwards by Link's action but other than that he stayed on his place. He closed his eyes again and tried to get his surroundings in once again.

Dark listened to the fight for a while before starting to walk. He tried to round behind the monster but this time the Stalmaster wasn't giving him a chance for a surprise attack. The creature kept Link between him and the darker Hylian. For a short while the ex-shadow thought about using Din's Fire but the chance of missing was too huge. In lack of better ideas, Dark formed a new plan that was quite daring.

The dark Hylian starting to run towards the fighting sounds. "Link!" Dark called and hit to ground for a slide. The Hero turned around and jumped off of the way just in time. The ex-shadow gasped a bit when couple of the weapons went past quite close. Once he got behind the creature, Dark stood up and slashed as fast as he could. The tip of the sword missed its target just by an inch. The creature shivered slightly at the close call, turned around and readied for an attack. Dark gulped in slight fear: _"Oh shit..."_

Link realized the chance and went for it. Unlike with Dark, the Hero's attack found its target. The creature screamed out and was just going to turn around when the darker Hylian slashed. This time the attack hit its target. The two Hylians took turns on striking at the monster until it understood to back off from between the attackers.

The Stalmaster stood on its place while glaring at its attackers. Link took few steps in front of Dark to protect him but other than that the two Hylians waited for the monster to attack first. The strange Stalfos clanged one of the swords twice against the ground just to see what would happen. Link only raised an eyebrow at its movement but Dark twitched slightly and frowned a bit. The creature grinned, took a better stance and send then one of the swords spiraling towards the duo.

Link's eyes widened in fear and he turned straight off towards Dark. "_GET DOWN!_" He screamed while already pushing the darker Hylian towards the floor. The movement and the fear in Link's voice freaked Dark out. He gasped and was thoroughly startled when the weapon hit the wall with loud clang behind them. Since the room was round, the sword luckily changed its way slightly and clanged to ground not too far from them.

The Stalmaster had already left for an attack after sending the sword on its way. Link sighed in relief and was just going to get up when Dark moved underneath him. Dark couldn't see a thing but he heard perfectly well that the monster was getting way too close to them. The only fear he had was to strike Link into the attack instead of away from it.

Dark bend his legs to his chest underneath the Hero and half kicked him off of himself. Link gasped in both slight pain and bewilderment while the surprise-attack got him far enough from the darker Hylian. Right after that Dark rolled to the other side in hopes of getting away from the attack.

The Stalmaster brought the remaining three weapons together and went for a stab. It struck the weapons downwards with full power but unfortunately its targets got off of the way. Growling, the strange Stalfos pulled the weapons out and turned towards the darker Hylian while readying the next attack.

Link stared in shock how the two swords and an axe struck into the place where he and Dark had been just mere seconds before. The Hero was fast to get back to his feet and get ready for the oncoming attack but instead of the creature choosing him, it turned towards Dark. Link turned his gaze from the monster to the darker Hylian and nearly recoiled backwards.

Dark was slightly shaking and his eyes were wide open. He stared at the ground even though he couldn't see a thing. _"I hit him... Oh dear Goddesses... I _hit_ him..."_ The dark Hylian thought in fear and shock. Slowly he closed his eyes while few tears started to roll down his face. _"I swore never to hurt him and..."_ He continued and carefully wrapped his arms around himself.

The Stalmaster grinned while very quietly it went closer to the darker Hylian. Once close enough it swung the three weapons right towards its target. "_DARK!_" Link screamed out in fear. The ex-shadow shot his head up in shock and gulped once before closing his eyes and waiting for the attack to hit.

Link reacted fast when he realized that the monster was going against the darker Hylian. He took out his bow and arrows. The Hero took aim and lit the arrow into ice. Sure, he could've gone and attacked but that wouldn't have given him a chance to get Dark off of the danger fully. When the monster finally went for an attack, he let the arrow fly while screaming out the ex-shadow's name.

The ice arrow hit into the golden body armor of the Stalmaster and very quickly froze the creature thoroughly. The attack was stopped into mid-strike while the sharp weapons weren't far away from their target. The sound of something freezing got Dark to look up again in confusion. Next thing was that he heard someone coming running towards him.

"Dark! Are you alright?!" Link questioned before he got close enough to the darker Hylian. Dark gave a small nod but didn't move. "Come _on_." The Hero continued, walked carefully to the ex-shadow's side and quite harshly pulled him out of the harm's way. He dragged Dark far away from the monster before stopping. The darker Hylian had just been stumbling after him without fighting even slightest bit against it.

"Stay put. I finish that thing off." Link commanded, took his sword and shield out and went to attack. The Stalmaster was slowly getting freed from the ice and unfortunately it moved out of the way on the second the Master Sword came towards it. The Hero cursed quietly but went for another attack. The monster was still slow and couldn't block or avoid the attacks fast enough so Link got lot of strikes in before the strange Stalfos moved out of his reach.

Dark was slowly calming down from the earlier situation. _"I had no choice. That creature would've killed us both had I not pushed Link off of the way... I did what I had to..."_ He thought and shook his head then. _"I doubt him to be mad at me for that. I... I kinda think him to understand that I... I just... Tried to save his life..."_ The dark Hylian sighed and took then once a deep breath to fully calm down. _"That thing is still alive and Link's getting tired. I _have_ to do something..."_

Dark swirled the sword once again in his hand while concentrating to the fight. The monster was getting its earlier movements back. The Stalmaster, like Link, was getting tired and weak but it wasn't willing to give up. Link wasn't giving up either but he was holding on to his strength bit better than the monster. Each chance to catch his breath was a chance for a short break and the Hero took that gladly. Yet, he had to be prepared for anything as well as to keep Dark safe.

The dark Hylian clanged the tip of the sword to the ground again. After that he started to walk quite confidently forward. Link glanced at him but frowned quite soon. _"What is he up to now?"_ He thought bit grimly and half wishing to facepalm with the next thought: _"He's _so_ going to walk straight against a wall..."_

The closer Dark got to the wall, the slower he walked. He kept clanging the sword once in a while against the ground. Soon he came to the wall and started to follow it forward towards the place where he and Link had avoided the strange Stalfos' weapon. Soon he found the said weapon. He seethed his own sword and picked the bigger and heavier sword up.

Link glanced at the darker Hylian once in a while in slight worry. The Stalmaster was still gathering its strength and also followed Dark's doing. _"I thought he said he can't see...?"_ The Hero thought confused. Once Dark picked the sword with slight difficulty, Link grinned and went to attack the monster. _"I _know_ what you're thinking, Dark!"_ The Hero thought eagerly. _"And I'm going to help you to achieve your plan!"_

Dark heard Link start to move quite fast and very soon the air was filled with the weapons clanging together. The dark Hylian grinned and took a bit better grip on the sword. _"Thanks Link. That's _exactly_ what I was needing..."_ He thought before taking several steps away from the wall. After that he started to spin and raise the sword to a horizontal stage.

The Stalmaster had to change its concentration from the darker Hylian into the one attacking him. This time the creature had to back off and block the oncoming attacks. The monster glanced at the other Hylian and frowned. It certainly didn't like what it was seeing and so it tried to get away from the way but Link followed and kept attacking it.

"_LINK!_" Dark called once he let the sword fly. He knew that the shout would get the creature's notion too but maybe, just maybe, they'd have luck and the attack would actually hit. The Hero glanced behind himself before already hitting to the ground. The Stalmaster gasped at the sight of the sword coming towards it. The sword was way too wide and long to avoid fully so the monster brought the three remaining weapons in front of it for a protection.

"Not a chance..." Link muttered and slashed at the creature's legs. The monster cried out and out of reflex it moved the weapons away from its protection. The Hero struck the strange Stalfos' legs several more times to make sure it didn't block the flying sword.

That was when the sword struck into its target. It broke thoroughly the Stalmaster's golden chest armor while knocking the creature to its back. Link stood up and performed a Jump Attack with slight exception. Instead of slashing the whole width of the sword down, he turned the sword so its tip pointed downwards. The sword struck into the monster's well hidden heart.

The monster vanished into dark smoke very soon after the attack. Link sighed in relief and pulled his sword off of the ground. Suddenly there was sound of wind and into middle of the room appeared a well decorated chest.

Dark sighed when he heard the monster vanish. He backed off and leaned against the wall while closing his eyes again. The sound of wind surprised him fully and he shot his head up. "Well, it seems that you're getting your weapon from here too." Link stated with a chuckle while walking towards the darker Hylian.

Dark sighed again and nodded. He was bit startled when the Hero laid his hand over the darker Hylian's shoulder. "How about we'd check what you got?" He questioned with a smile.

"Yeah..." Dark replied but didn't move from his spot. Link frowned a bit.

"Well, aren't you going to open the chest?" The Hero inquired bit worriedly. Dark shrugged.

"You can do that. I think I'll lean against the wall a bit longer..." He replied in slight mumble. Link laughed and shook his head.

"I doubt I can open the chest but I can give it a try." The Hero replied grinning. "Besides... We gotta clean your eyes and the faster we get out of this room, the faster we'll get to the well." Link continued and half pulled the darker Hylian off of the wall. "You've done so well so far, Dark, so let's finish this off too." He continued while guiding Dark to the chest.

Dark sighed and numbly followed the Hero to the chest. He carefully let his hands slide around the chest to find where it will open. Once he found the part he started to lift it. Link watched quite interested about the situation but stayed silent. The darker Hylian opened the chest fully and bent inside it in search of whatever was supposed to be in there.

After a while of searching Dark eventually found the weapon. He pulled them out while sitting down in front of the chest. "Bow and arrows... No surprise there." Link said with a smile. Dark just shrugged and pocketed the weapon. "Now, let's get back to the yard so we can fix your eyesight." The Hero continued and pulled the darker Hylian back to his feet.

Dark slightly groaned but followed Link none the less. "Can't we take a short break at least? For both of our sake..." He nearly whined but didn't stop walking. Link chuckled slightly but shook his head.

"The faster you get your eyesight back, the less damage there can be." The Hero replied carefully and opened the door. "Remember the stairs." Link warned while keeping a light grip on Dark's arm and guiding him towards the said stairs.

"I know, I know..." Dark muttered back but nearly fell on the second he came to the stairs. Link chuckled again while steadying the darker Hylian.

"You want me to count the stairs for you?" He questioned with a slight grin. Dark huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're having fun, aren't you?" He countered bit angrily but he was mainly ashamed instead of angry. Link just kept chuckling and shook his head.

"Well, considering that you've been nearly constantly saving my life ever since I met you for the second time... I think this settles the score a bit." The Hero stated with a wide grin. Dark half snorted.

"I haven't done much of that since—" He started but Link cut him short.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Not much of monsters but just about few weeks ago you risked your own life for my sake... Not to mention all the rest that followed _that_..." The Hero nearly barked and half glared at the darker Hylian. Dark flinched slightly and fell thoroughly silent. Link sighed. "Sorry..." He muttered and started to guide Dark forward. "Let's just get to that well..."

Dark half stumbled through the stairs but Link didn't let him fall. He held on to the darker Hylian and carefully guided him up and to the next door. They stopped right in front of the said door. "Okay... Now comes bit of tricky part..." Link stated with a sigh. "Just follow my command and you'll be perfectly fine. Okay?" He continued and Dark gave as confident nod as possible. Link sighed again but nodded back and opened the door.

He took once a deep breath before giving the first command: "Run!" Dark was bit startled and stumbled first few steps while the Hero nearly dragged him forward. "Jump!" Link shouted way too soon but the darker Hylian tried his best to follow the call. Luckily the Hero pulled him over the small gap and steadied him on the pillar. "This is going to be bit harder one..." Link mumbled.

The Hero was feeling bit anxious and he truly wanted to get away from the room as fast as possible. "Two fast steps and jump." Link stated while carefully pulling Dark bit backwards. The darker Hylian nodded. Link took once a deep breath. "Now!" He shouted and left for a run. This time Dark managed to follow him lot better and they made over the second gap lot easier.

Link sighed in relief after he had half dragged Dark into middle of the swirly hallway. "Thank Goddesses that part is over..." He mumbled while starting to walk forward and gently pulling the darker Hylian with him. Dark followed without trouble but something caught his notion.

"Link... Is something following us...?" He questioned bit worriedly and slightly frowning. Link frowned too and turned around. Dark could easily notice the Hero stiffening and he heard Link gasp slightly. "What is it?" The darker Hylian inquired while turning around and trying to hear where the creature was at.

Link deadpanned while taking out his sword and shield. "A Floormaster..." He mumbled without even slightest bit of enthusiasm. Dark took out his sword and shield too but stayed at back when the Hero left for an attack.

The Floormaster waited until Link was close enough and jumped then into the ceiling of the hallway. Link gasped slightly and took few steps backwards. The monster left to move towards him and the darker Hylian. The Hero narrowed his eyes, moved forwards and somersaulted once to get behind the creature. After that he seethed his sword and put the shield away while taking out bow and arrows. _"Should be easy to hit..."_ Link thought while taking aim.

The Floormaster continued forward without caring even slightest bit of the Hero. Dark was feeling anxious and he took slowly few steps backwards. He didn't hear the creature but it certainly didn't mean that it wouldn't be there anymore. The dark Hylian twitched once again when he heard something flying through the air. Next sound was something big falling to the floor.

Link had managed to shoot the arrow perfectly into the enemy. The Floormaster fell to the floor and separated into three smaller Floormasters. The Hero took aim again but the small pieces of Floormaster had a different plan than what Link had thought about. Instead of getting together again they headed towards Dark. "Spin Attack! _NOW!_" Link screamed when the small Floormasters jumped into the air.

Dark recoiled backwards but he wasn't going to object against the command. He knew that he wouldn't have much of strength in his attack since it had to be done so fast but the dark Hylian did what he could. The attack was fast and the sword hit into the three small creatures one at a time. Link was fast with his arrows and took the creatures out right after that. Two didn't even have chances of hitting the floor before the arrows struck.

Link sighed in relief when the creatures vanished. "Well, that really wasn't something I wanted to crash up with..." He stated while walking back to Dark's side. The darker Hylian leaned against the wall behind himself while trying to calm down. "I gotta ask... You sure you're currently blind and not just fooling with me?" Link inquired with one eyebrow raised while crossing his arms over his chest.

Dark sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground. "I _am_ blind. I just have good hearing..." He mumbled bit angrily for an answer.

"Nice~. Can you teach me that?" Link asked with a slight grin. Dark just shrugged.

"Maybe once we get back to the castle..." He replied and took once a deep breath. "Shouldn't we continue so we can save Saria?" Dark continued while raising one eyebrow. Link nearly recoiled backwards. Soon he sighed sadly and nodded.

"You're right... Come on..." The Hero continued and took a firm, yet gentle, grip on Dark's arm. They came to the next door. "Once we get through, just run..." Link half commanded and went to open the door.

The two Blue Bubbles were there again but the two Hylian's had surprisingly good timing. The creatures were on different sides of the area so the duo managed to run past them without problems. Link stopped Dark before the falling and guided him to the ladders. While the darker Hylian took the safer and slower way down, Link took bit of speed and jumped. He somersaulted when he hit into the ground to avoid injuries and waited for Dark after that.

"Nice of you having the more fun way down..." Dark grumbled. Link just shrugged and started to guide the ex-shadow again.

"Well, since you can't see currently you wouldn't have been able to see when the ground was going to come and meet you." The Hero replied grinning.

Dark sighed. "Hate to say you're right..." He half mumbled and nearly gasped when Link stopped him again.

"Just a sec..." Link nearly whispered and jumped down from the small ledge. He took out his bow and arrows again while searching for the Blue Bubble. Once he located the monster it was easy to get it killed. After the road was clear again the Hero returned back to the ledge. "Okay, you can jump down now." He stated and Dark followed the advice.

"So... What was on our way?" Dark questioned while walking next to Link to the door.

"Just simple Blue Bubble. Nothing big." Link replied and opened the door. After getting through it, he stopped for a while and thought for the right way. "Okay... Stairs and a ledge..." He stated once he had taken a grip on Dark's arm and started to guide him forward. This time the darker Hylian didn't have much of trouble of getting down.

Soon they were walking through the main room and into one of the new routes in the Temple. Link kept eye on his surroundings while going through the small pathway into the yard. Dark just followed quietly and trusting Link to handle whatever was going to come at their way. It didn't take long before they were at the yard and Link guided the darker Hylian to the well where they had withdrew Dark's sword after few monster had thrown it there.

"Okay... We're here..." Link said while glancing into the well. The water seemed to be normal and he didn't notice anything moving at there. "Just lean over it, hold your breath and—" The Hero started to explain but Dark cut him short.

"I know what to do, Link... This isn't first time for me..." He stated, leaned over the well and took once a deep breath and holding it in before pushing his face into the water. Dark flinched slightly when he opened his eyes. After that he started to blink so he could get most of dirt off of his eyes. Soon he pulled back up while slightly gasping for air.

"You okay?" Link questioned slightly worriedly. Dark just gave a fast nod. "How's your eyesight?" The Hero continued. The darker Hylian sighed and shook his head.

"Not yet fixed..." He replied, took a deep breath again and continued his work. Link kept eye on the surroundings while hoping that nothing would come to bother them. He glanced once in a while at the darker Hylian before sighing.

Dark pulled back up and kept blinking while wiping most of the water off. "Any better?" Link asked. Dark sighed but shook his head. "Maybe you should keep your eyes open and move your head a bit to get some kind of current... That might help." The Hero suggested carefully.

Dark took once a deep breath before nodding. "Might be worth of trying..." He answered and went for third round. He followed Link's advice. The water slightly stung in his eyes but it seemed to help. Once he pulled back up, Link asked the same question over again. "Slightly..." Dark eventually replied.

Link frowned. "Not good enough..." He stated and nodded towards the well. "Keep working. And don't try to lie to me. We're not leaving until you've gotten your sight fully back." The Hero continued. Dark sighed but nodded.

It took a while longer but eventually Dark stopped and sat down next to the well while leaning against it. "Better?" Link questioned with slight worry. The darker Hylian nodded while opening his eyes and looking around.

"Yeah... No worries anymore..." He replied but gasped nearly straight off when the Hero took a firm, yet gentle, grip on his chin. "Uh... Link...?" Dark questioned. Link didn't answer but he checked the darker Hylian's eyes as well as he could.

"At least I don't notice any of dirt in your eyes anymore..." He replied while letting go of Dark's chin. The ex-shadow sighed and relaxed while closing his eyes. Link chuckled slightly. "Aren't you going to check your new equipment?" He questioned with a grin.

Dark was slightly startled but he opened his eyes and dug the bow and arrows out. The bow's colors were lot darker than what Link's bow had. Other than that there wasn't much of difference. The dark Hylian put the weapon down and pulled out one of the arrows. He nearly flinched when he saw the tip of the projectile. Frowning, he dropped the rest of the arrows out of the quiver. They all looked the same.

"Never seen this kind of arrows before..." Link observed while taking one up and turning it around in his hand. Dark stared at the arrows before sighing. He slumped and looked away in sorrow.

_"Did it really have to come to this...?"_ He wondered while closing his eyes and leaning backwards into the well. He whirled the arrow in his hand while letting his mind wander back into that one specific night.

_The forest was dark and bit misty. Dark was leaning against a tree while looking into the depths of the forest. The only thing that was shining through the darkness was glowing red eyes. Those eyes were high and quite big. It certainly indicated for something huge to be hiding in the shadows of the forest._

_"Thought you'd never come." Dark said with a grin. He heard loud and nearly thunder sounding chuckle. The glowing red eyes shut for a while and once they opened up again, they were lot lower. "You tired or something?" Dark questioned but chuckled then._

_"Not a chance. You know we don't get tired. We don't need food nor do we feel a thing..." The creature answered with same kind of voice as the chuckling had been. Dark just calmly nodded._

_"So... What's the big deal of calling me here in middle of the night?" The dark Hylian questioned grinning. He had no objections for being there. Hell, he was more glad to be in that dark forest than where he had been just couple of hours ago._

_"You sure you weren't followed?" The creature questioned while looking around. Dark sighed._

_"You know I can't be thoroughly sure in these days. I did what I could, though... But knowing _that guy_..." Dark replied grimly._

_"Well, let's just pray we're not under observation..." The creature said bit angrily. Dark sighed exaggerated._

_"You freaking know my current situation! This'd better be darn important for me to risk my life by this stunt!" He growled back and glared menacingly at the creature. The creature chuckled again._

_"I like it when you're like that. Works better for you than the way you're normally..." The creature stated but sighed then. "The matter _is_ important. I need you to know something very crucial about me." It continued sadly. That piqued Dark's interest and he took a bit better position._

_The creature sighed sadly while closing its glowing red eyes and Dark could easily hear it laying down on the ground. After a short while the eyes opened up again and now they were in nearly on eyelevel with the dark Hylian. "I can feel the darkness coming closer..." The creature stated quietly._

_Dark sighed fully exaggerated. "We both know that the world is in darkness currently..." He muttered angrily and was losing his interest very fast. The creature gave a sad chuckle._

_"Not that kind of darkness, Shadow of the Hero of Light." The creature replied and chuckled again when Dark growled._

_"Don't call me that! How many times I gotta say it to you?!" The dark Hylian shouted. The creature grinned._

_"Okay... Would you prefer me calling you as SotHoL?" The creature inquired and laughed out loud at the expression on the Hylian's face._

_"Oh dear gods and goddesses of shadows... _NO!_" Dark screamed back while deadpanning and facepalming. It took a while from the creature to calm down from its laughing fit._

_"Okay, okay... Let's leave that matter for another day, shall we?" The creature eventually stated after calming down fully. It took once a deep breath and when it continued its talking, the voice was sadder and grim: "The darkness that I talk about is not trying to go against Light but against Shadows. It is trying to track me and others down and as you know, shadows do feel but only if—"_

_"—The feeling is strong enough... Yeah, I know that..." Dark replied equally grimly and dropped his angry gaze to the ground. "So, your point is?" He continued._

_The creature sighed again. "If I fall..." It started quietly but fell silent. Dark frowned._

_"Fall? What do you mean by that?" He questioned quietly. The creature sighed again._

_"Fall into the hands of the one hunting us down..." The creature replied sadly. It moved a bit and snapped its claws. Right in front of Dark appeared a darker version of Fairy Bow and quiver of ten arrows. The creature reached its huge five clawed paw out of the shadows and very carefully and gently pulled one arrow out._

_The tip of the arrow was strange. Dark had seen lot of arrows but this was something thoroughly new to him. The head was pitch black. It had four jags that came off of the dark and thin wooden part of the arrow. In these jags, on the side of the wooden part of the arrow, were holes that created more of jags into there. The feathers at the end of the arrow were black and shiny. The creature carefully flexed the arrow's feathers but they didn't move much and so proving them to be of same material as the sharp end of the arrow._

_"You do know that I control electricity, right?" The creature asked quietly. Dark gave a silent nod. The creature sighed and put the arrow away. It snapped its claws again and the bow and arrows vanished. "With electricity inflicted into the arrows... The sharp end grows and once it has hit its target... It will bounce backwards and rip one hell of a hole..."_

_It took few seconds from Dark to realize what the creature was telling him. "W-Wait! What?! That's freaking dangerous to you! Why and how are you having these?!" He screamed in horror._

_The creature chuckled grimly. "I always have had them. In the world of Darkness, Shadows and Light there is only ten arrows and ten arrows only... And these ten arrows are with me." It stated out with a slight grin. Dark sighed._

_"Thank the—" He started but the creature cut him short._

_"Don't! There is a reason I'm telling _you_ this. I have held this secret for centuries and even if I'd fall, the one taking me over wouldn't find out about this." The creature said bit angrily._

_"Why me? Why now? You'd be in safe without anyone knowing your weakness..." Dark said bit confused. The creature sighed sadly._

_"Like I said, the darkness is coming closer and I'm fearing to fall into it." It repeated. "The thing, Shadow of the Hero of Light, is that I want _you_ to defeat me if I fall. And I want you to do it _alone_. No matter who you would be having along, I want you to come at me on your own." The creature explained and rose to full height._

_"I still don't understand why me." Dark inquired still bit confused but also shocked about the revelation. The creature sighed and lowered down again._

"...Dark!"

_"Because I can trust you not to cause me more harm than need be. Anyone else would, quite surely, be torturing me. I know for certain that you won't." The creature explained quietly with a slight smile. Dark sighed and nodded._

_"I can understand that... BUT, this will never happen. You won't fall. You're master of hiding and staying out of sight. Nothing can find you unless you want it to find you." Dark stated as confidently as possible._

"Dark!"

_The creature laughed and nodded. "You're right but I'm still worried. Yet, you will know if I have fallen... If you accept my request." It continued bit worriedly._

_Dark sighed but nodded. "I accept it. If it comes to it, which I doubt, I will fight you alone. I promise." He stated with slight smile. The creature sighed._

"DARK!"

_"Thank you, Shadow of the Hero of Light." It stated gratefully with a nod. "The arrows, ten in total, and the bow shall come to your use should I fall. That is your cue to fulfill your promise." The creature continued and stood up. "I shall go now as should you. I really doubt you want—"_

"_DARK!_"

The dark Hylian gasped and shot his eyes open in bewilderment. "You really paced out there. You okay, Dark?" Link questioned worriedly. Dark was still breathing bit fast before sighing and calming down.

"Yeah... I'm okay..." He replied sadly before starting to gather his bow and arrows up from the ground. The dark Hylian still held one arrow in his hands before sighing and putting it among the nine other arrows into the quiver.

"What were you thinking, Dark? It didn't seem too happy memory." Link asked while watching the darker Hylian. Dark put the arrows and the bow away while staying silent for a long while. "Dark?"

The darker Hylian sighed again and looked away from the Hero. "Just a memory... Nothing that you should be worried about..." He eventually replied. Link narrowed his eyes at that answer.

"Well, it certainly worries me since it nearly got you crying!" The Hero replied bit angrily. Dark flinched slightly and stood up. He sat down to the edge of the well and kept his gaze in the ground. "Just talk to me, Dark. _Please_." Link half pleaded.

Dark sighed once again and closed his eyes. "I've seen the bow and arrows before, Link... The arrows... They're one of a kind and there isn't more than these ten." He eventually explained. The dark Hylian opened his eyes and turned his sad gaze to meet Link's eyes. "There's something I have to do and I have to do it alone." He nearly whispered before already dropping his gaze back into the grassy ground in front of him.

"What kind of thing, Dark?" Link asked carefully. Dark took once a deep breath but stayed silent while he gathered his thoughts and tried to find the right words to explain things without giving too much out.

"A... A promise..." Dark started while still searching for the right words. "I have to fulfill one promise that I gave to a comrade of mine. He... He's... He's in bit of trouble..." He continued carefully and tried desperately not to break down.

"What kind of trouble? And wouldn't it be better if I could help you with it?" Link inquired while getting even more interested about the whole situation. _"_Finally_ bit of insight into his past... It's not much but _something_."_ He thought bit happily even though the situation was anything but happy.

Dark shook his head. "I gave my promise, Link. I gotta do this alone." He stated while pushing himself off of the well. "Let's just continue. We gotta find the ones that stole the four flames so we can get to check the floor underneath." He continued and started to head back to the middle room of the Temple.

Link sighed nearly exaggerated. He would've gladly heard more. "Can I at least meet this friend of yours once you've helped him?" He questioned while feeling bit hopeful. Dark sighed and shook his head.

"I doubt that's gonna happen." He muttered and half hoped Link didn't hear that. "He's shy and not trusting too many people..." The dark Hylian continued louder and sighed when he noticed the look on Link's face. Dark turned around to face him bit angrily. "Just drop the case already. I'm not in the mood of explaining this!" He half shouted before turning around and fastening his pace.

Link was bit taken aback about the outburst but ran after Dark very soon. "Hey, Dark, just calm down, will ya." The Hero said as calmly as he could once he got next to the darker Hylian. Dark only huffed and made sure not to look at him. Link sighed and shook his head. "You're having quite short temper today... Anything I can do to help?" He queried.

Dark still kept his gaze off of Link while stopping once they reached the main room. "Just show the next way." He said quite angrily. _"I want to be mad at him but I just can't... He hasn't done anything wrong."_ The dark Hylian thought sadly while trying desperately to push the memory of the last meeting with his old comrade out of his mind. _"If I told him, he'd understand. He had Volvagia, after all... But he wouldn't allow me to fight alone."_ He continued and sighed then while following Link once again.

The Hero stayed silent. He had wanted the dark Hylian to gain more confidence but this certainly wasn't what he had wished for. Link glanced once at Dark while taking the lead. _"Why do we end up into a fight whenever he gets bit of confidence?"_ He wondered sadly while dropping his gaze to ground and walked towards door that they had come out of not too long ago.

"Didn't we check that area already?" Dark questioned when he realized where they were heading to. Link shook his head.

"Not fully. It would be good idea to check if the rest of the way has anything to offer to us." The Hero replied while already having climbed up to the stairs and headed to the door. Dark sighed but followed without further inquiring.

They fastened their pace while avoiding the Blue Bubble. Link didn't have any of interest of losing more of his arrows into those flying blue flamed skulls. And Dark just followed him without much of interest and staying quiet whole time. At the higher ground the two Hylians just waited until the two Blue Bubbles were far enough before making a dash to the door.

The swirly corridor and next room were done in a hurry. Link wanted to avoid crashing up with more of Floormasters and Wallmasters. _"Lucky for Dark having had lost his sight. He didn't see that darn thing this time either..."_ The Hero thought bit grimly while opening the door and continuing the way to the stairs. "The place lacks paintings..." Link stated out.

"Noticed that already on our first visit." Dark answered with a shrug. The Hero glanced at him with one eyebrow raised.

"You do realize that two out of four Poes were hiding in those painting, right?" Link inquired carefully.

"I do remember you telling me that. But that's not the case this time, now is it?" Dark replied while still keeping his voice angry. The Hero sighed and shook his head while walking down the stairs. They entered back into the room where they both had collected bow and arrows for their equipment.

Link walked straight through the round room to another door. The next room was exactly like the one before the round one. It equally lacked the paintings but the Hero didn't stop to investigate the situation. He just walked up the stairs and to another door. Dark stopped and crossed his arms over his chest with a grin on his face. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He inquired smugly.

Link turned around with a frown. "What do you mean?" He questioned but was even more confused when the darker Hylian's grin widened.

"That road leads into a dead end." Dark stated out. "If we want to get further and not into that room with a lava pit and around going pillars... We should've hit the darn eye before coming to that twisted hallway." He continued smugly.

Link stared at him for awhile before groaning and facepalming. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" He half growled. Dark chuckled slightly.

"At least you don't have to get inside the second room with a Wallmaster." He replied nonchalantly.

"That's a small reward for going through the whole way back and into here again..." Link grumbled but started to make his way back to the room with the eye. Dark didn't move even one inch. "Aren't you coming?" The Hero questioned while turning to look at him.

Dark shrugged. "Thought to check the rest of the way just to be sure." He replied and went to open the door. Link nearly growled while following the darker Hylian into the second room with a pillar and fear of Wallmaster coming at them. They reached the door without problems and went through it.

The twisted hallway had two Green Bubbles flying in the hallway. Link sighed and took out his sword and shield. He walked calmly to the first enemy and before it noticed him, the Hero smashed the shield against it. Dark watched from side while Link finished the first enemy. The second Green Bubble got same kind of treatment without any mercy.

"You're not going to fight at all, huh?" Link questioned bit grimly while walking towards the door. Dark just shrugged.

"You don't seem to need any of help." He replied with a wide grin. Link groaned and shook his head. "Besides, why should I get on the _Hero's_ way." The darker Hylian continued bit angrily. The said Hero flinched slightly but opened the door and let them inside.

The room was as intact as before. There were no ice in front of the eye and the pillars were still moving around the middle pillar. The lava pit was still there as was the eternal flame on the middle pillar. "Nothing's here... Seems to me that this was just waste of time..." Link stated bit angrily.

Dark on the other hand was bit interested about the room. It wasn't his first time in there but there was something different. He couldn't really point it out but he ventured further into the room and jumped to one of the pillars.

Link sighed. "Oh, come _on_, Dark! We should be searching for those idiots who stole the flames and not play around in this stupid room!" He nearly growled out. Dark turned to glare at him.

"What do you think I'm doing?" The ex-shadow replied and turned back towards the fire. Link raised an eyebrow at that statement and followed the darker Hylian. He jumped to another pillar and watched bit interested on Dark's work.

The dark Hylian stared at the flame before reaching out towards it. Link flinched but stayed silent while waiting for Dark to scream out in pain. But instead of touching the fire itself, the ex-shadow took a grip on the wooden torch. "What _are_ you doing?" Link inquired bit worriedly since the current position the darker Hylian had looked bit difficult.

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!" Dark barked back angrily. Link was slightly startled but he was getting even more interested about the situation. Eventually he sat down and just watched since there was nothing he could do at the moment. "Dam this... Can't these stupid pillars stay _PUT_!" The dark Hylian growled, sighed and pushed himself back to the pillar. He sat down and shook his head. "There gotta be a better way to do this..." He mumbled to himself and looked around in the room.

"Need any help?" Link inquired bit amused. Dark glared at him. He really wanted to say _no_ but instead he just sighed and shrugged. The Hero stood up and jumped from pillar to pillar until he reached the darker Hylian. "So... What are you trying to do?" He questioned while sitting down next to him.

Dark sighed. "Ever seen those before?" He questioned and pointed to the mid pillar. Link frowned and looked at the pillar. It was only then he noticed the strange markings on the stone pillar. He stood up and walked closer to the edge to get a better look at the markings.

"No... It's not Hylian for certain. And I doubt I gave it much of notion on my first time at here... Not that I checked the pillar when we were checking this place in case of stray monsters." Link replied and frowned slightly at the things. "Do you know what these are?" He asked while turning around.

Dark sighed and nodded. "Yeah but the pillars are moving too fast for me to get a chance to read it. It might be just waste of time but I doubt we're having much of knowledge where to search for the flame thieves." The darker Hylian replied and avoided fully to look Link in the eyes. _"Not to mention that those weren't here before..."_ He thought bit grimly.

"So... What langue is it, then?" Link asked and sat down. Dark took a deep breath but stayed silent for a while. He kept on wondering how much he actually should tell.

"It's called as _Shadowy Langue_. It doesn't really have a name but that's the main name it goes by." Dark replied with a shrug. _"And I don't only read it... I _talk_ it too..."_ He thought bit grimly. _"Not that he'd understand a word of it..."_

Link nodded but surprisingly let the topic fall. _"At least we're getting on better basis again... I'd better not push him on this..."_ He thought while taking his gaze off of Dark and turning it into the pillar with that strange language. "You think it might have something important on it?" The Hero eventually inquired.

Dark just shrugged. "I really don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I can't say unless I read it. And only after that we'll know if it was waste of time." He answered bit grimly. Link nodded and stood up. He looked around before going back to the pillar where they had started from.

_"At least this one doesn't move..."_ The Hero thought while starting to look around bit better. Dark had watched Link's movement but shrugged it off and concentrated to his current problem. Link tried to figure out a way to either stop the pillars from moving or then to get Dark over to the torch pillar. _"There isn't enough of room for him on the main pillar... And I doubt there to be a way to stop the pillars from moving..."_ He thought grimly. _"There has to be a way. That text can't be there without someone having written it down. And that would need one to have been able to stay put and all..."_ The Hero continued and raised his gaze to the ceiling. That's when it hit him.

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A/N: And again a nice little cliffhanger. ^^; Also, this is so far the longest chapter! =D

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


	11. The Forest Temple, part 5: Two Flames

A/N: I have forgotten to say this earlier: The picture I have in use is from dA by an artist _lychi_ and the picture's name is just simply _Zelda_. I'm sorry that I forgot to inform this important piece of information. T.T

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**IMPORTANT!_ READ!_** I have several important announcements considering _Letters from Hyrule_ and few other things. I hope You can understand and forgive me for inconvenience. I am extremely sorry for this: **Letters from Hyrule_ will be on hiatus for the time being._**

**1)** The reason for hiatus is simple. Trying to write letters every other day is taking bit too much of time while planning few other things for Your happiness. Not to mention that before I had a letter or few written before updating but now it has caught up. There is a poll on my profile so I'm quite certainly going to be updating _Letters from Hyrule_ twice a week once I've got enough of answers and I have written more of replies. BUT for that I need to know what You guys think to be the best days to update. THANK YOU! And I'm really, really, extremely, terribly SORRY for this! T.T

**2) **I'm also working with a new Advent Calendar thingy. This time I'm updating it in DeviantArt simply because it is informational thing. Once December comes, I'll be putting one Journal for each day. Name of this thing is simply _25 Tidbits of CaH Saga_.

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Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

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DARK LINK'S QUEST  


CHAPTER 11: The Forest Temple, part 5: Two out of four Flames

"Hey, Dark! Look up!" Link called quite happily. Dark sighed once again. He could easily hear the grin on the Hero's face, yet he followed the request. The dark Hylian nearly gasped when he saw what Link had noticed. Right after that he was grinning as widely as the Hero did.

On the ceiling was a hook. It was clear that the Hookshot could easily get a grip on it. "So... How do you want to do this, Dark? I still have a longer chain to my Hookshot than what you do." Link stated while coming back to the same pillar where the darker Hylian was sitting at.

Dark stood up but frowned a bit. "What about the flame? I doubt I can hang above it without getting burned... And being too high would certainly _not_ help me to get the text read." The ex-shadow stated while staring into the eternal fire.

Link grinned. "I can easily fix that problem." He stated and took out his bow and arrows. The Hero took aim easily and lit the arrow into ice. Right after that he let it fly and the magic froze the eternal flame. "It might not hold long, though..." Link stated bit worriedly.

Dark narrows his eyes. "As long as it holds long enough for me to read the text, it'll be fine." He replied and turned around. Link was already changing the bow and arrows into his Hookshot. "Okay... How are we going to do this?" The dark Hylian inquired.

"Let me show you..." Link answered while his grin widened. He took aim and shot the device towards the hook. And before Dark could say even one word, Link had already taken a grip on him just before the Hookshot started to pull the Hero up.

Dark screamed out in surprise. Link chuckled a bit while holding on tightly to him. "Don't worry. I'm not going to drop you." He stated confidently while starting to lower the chain. The thing was that the duo was right above the frozen flame.

Dark gulped while watching the mid-pillar coming closer. "You'd better hold on to your words then..." He half mumbled in slight fear. "Okay! Stop!" The darker Hylian shouted out once they got close enough.

Link stopped the movement. "This good?" He questioned and nearly gasped when Dark reached out to the froze flame. "H-Hey! Take it easy or I'll lose my grip on you!" The Hero stated bit bewildered.

"Sorry..." Dark muttered while carefully pulling a bit lower and turning them around slightly. "Wrong angle..." He explained while starting to try and read the text. Link sighed and tried to stay put as well as he could. He couldn't make out the darker Hylian's voice after that but he was certain that the ex-shadow was muttering something out loud in Hylian.

**"_Hear the call of the creature._**

**_Can you see it in the pit?_**

**_Hear the growl of the demon._**

**_How far into the forest dare you venture?_**

**_Hear the howl of the monster._**

**_Dare to face your fear?_**

**_Hear the hiss of the beast._**

**_Do you have the courage to jump down?_**

**_Hear the Shadow cry._**

**_You think you can give it peace?"_**

Dark frowned while reading the text several times through. He couldn't fully make any of sense to it. "You can pull us up now..." He said while still fully in his thoughts. Link chuckled a bit and jolted the darker Hylian out of his concentration.

"Can't do that..." The Hero replied and nodded then towards the torch. "You gotta make us swing a bit." He continued while slightly lowering them downwards. Dark sighed but did as Link requested. Right after that Link started to try and speed the swings slightly. "Ready?" He questioned.

Dark frowned even more. "Ready for what?" He questioned and screamed when Link let go of him. The dark Hylian fell to one of the pillars and nearly somersaulted off of it. "_Shiit!_" He shouted out while desperately trying _not_ to fall off.

Link was lot more luckier. He didn't have fear of falling off of the pillar. "For this." He stated bit grinning. Dark turned around to face him with quite harsh glare.

"You _idiot!_ I could've fallen off into that darn lava!" He screamed out while already turning his back to the Hero. Link chuckled slightly while coming to the same pillar as the darker Hylian was at.

"Oh, come on, Dark. You know I wouldn't have let you fall." The Hero said with a slight smile. Dark just huffed and kept his gaze off of him. "So... Was this waste of time, then?" Link continued while sitting down.

Dark sighed and sat down next to the Hero. "Probably not... I still gotta think it out but I have quite a good hunch of where to go next..." He replied quietly. _"I know only what the two last lines means but all of the earlier ones... I'm not thoroughly sure..."_ The dark Hylian thought bit sadly.

"How about you'd say it fully out loud? Maybe we can figure it out together." Link suggested while feeling bit hopeful. The darker Hylian sighed but nodded. He repeated in Hylian everything else except the two last lines. "Well, as far as I can figure out on first hearing... The first and every other from there is quite surely meaning the ones that stole the flames..." The Hero started carefully.

Dark sighed exaggerated. "Even I figured that much..." He mumbled. Link just shrugged while laying down to his back and staring up to the ceiling but soon he closed his eyes since the circling of the hook was giving him a headache. The darker Hylian glanced at him but didn't follow the example. Instead, he just pulled his legs to his chest and laid his chin over his knees before closing his eyes.

"There's currently only two pits that I can state out." Link eventually said.

"Oh, and where's those?" Dark replied and glanced once at him.

"The first one is on the room before this once we'd get the far off hallway untwisted." The Hero started. "And the second is at that new garden... Though, I wouldn't say it as a pit but more like a moat." He continued.

Dark stayed silent but he started to frown while thinking it through. Soon he grinned. "I think I know where we're going to head next..." The ex-shadow stated while standing up. Link opened his eyes and frowned at him slightly.

"Pray tell me where are we heading to?" He answered while sitting up. Dark was grinning widely and offered his hand to the Hero. Link accepted it and the darker Hylian pulled him to his feet.

"The text was written on _Shadowy Language_ so only I can read it. And by that it was actually _meant_ for me." Dark started while jumping back to the pillar where the room's only door was at. "Plus I have the best hearing of the two of us." The dark Hylian continued and opened the door back to the twisted corridor.

"I'm not fully following..." Link replied while avoiding the two Green Bubbles with the ex-shadow. Dark chuckled but didn't continue talking until they had gotten into the room that was lacking three paintings.

"I'm meaning that only _I_ can hear the creatures. The second line is probably meaning the pit that appears once we change that one corridor straight again. The fourth line is probably meaning that the thief is somewhere in the forest where we fought with that cat. The sixth line means about one of the wells somewhere in here... And last line is, hopefully not, meaning that hellish drop that is in the area at where we cleaned my eyes." Dark explained carefully.

Link nodded slowly and handled the two Blue Bubbles from their way. Dark had been ready to help but the Hero had been slightly faster. After that Link took out his bow and arrows before already shooting at the eye above the door. "I still don't understand the sixth line. How did it go again...? Dare to face your fear?" The Hero replied and frowned slightly.

Dark shivered while following Link through the corridor and into the next room. "You _do_ remember when you took me out of the Water Temple for the first time, right?" He questioned bit ashamed. Link's frown increased but he nodded slowly. "Remember how long it took you to coax me to take that last dive?" The dark Hylian continued even more ashamed.

Link stopped dead on his tracks. They were at the door to the round room of where they both had gained bows. "Fear of water..." The Hero whispered in sudden realization. Dark gulped, kept his gaze in the floor and nodded.

Link turned around to face him and in lack of encouraging words, he hugged the darker Hylian. "Don't worry. We'll figure out something." He whispered before letting go. "Besides, we gotta handle two flame thieves before that so we'll be having enough of time to come up with a plan." The Hero continued as confidently as he could.

Dark took once a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, you're right..." He answered but he really was lacking the confidence. "Anyways, we probably should continue..." The dark Hylian continued and went to open the door. Link nodded and followed him forward.

They walked in silence but once they reached the second area without the paintings, the Hero stopped the ex-shadow. "Wait a sec, will ya." He stated and sat down to the third last step of the stairs. Dark turned around bit frowning. Link patted the place next to him and gave a bit lopsided smile. "I don't know how long we've been going through this place but besides fixing your eyesight, we haven't really rested at all."

Dark sighed but took gladly the given chance to rest a bit. He sat down next to Link and let his legs straight while leaning bit backwards. "I think bit of rest sounds like an excellent idea." He replied while closing his eyes. The Hero chuckled slightly and started to go through his pockets.

"Never leave the castle without bit of snack." Link said with a grin while taking a small pack of cookies out. Dark had opened one eye to watch slightly on the Hero's doing but the words and the package took his notion fully.

"You're really sneaky, you know that?" The dark Hylian said while taking one of the offered cookies. Link laughed and shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. I just know that usually when I leave the castle, I quite certainly won't be back until late in the evening." He explained while munching to one of the cookies. "Sometimes not even then. So, food's always good idea to have along." Link continued and ate three more before stretching. "You think you could keep eye on possible monsters while I'd take few hours nap?" The Hero questioned carefully.

Dark nodded. "No problem. Can I eat the rest of the cookies or should I leave something?" He answered with slight grin. Link laughed while taking off his shield and sword. He put them close by to lean against the wall before sitting down.

"Eat all you want. I think I have another package along anyways." He replied while taking as good position as possible. "Wake me up if you need help. I'll just take couple of hours of rest..." Link said before already yawning, closing his eyes and sifting slightly to find bit better position.

Dark watched him bit interested. He kept his ears strained for any possible sound around them. Other than that he kept on munching at the cookies. _"Not that I'd know when couple of hours has gone past. I probably would be waking him up way too early and there isn't even slightest thing that could tell off about the time... So, I think I just gotta let him sleep and try and find something to keep myself awake until then..."_ The ex-shadow thought and yawned slightly.

The dark Hylian didn't dare to close his eyes in fear of falling asleep. So he just stared right in front of him and listened to everything that was going on around them. Most of things were just simple wind and brushing of the leaves. There were few far away monsters, mainly different kind of Bubbles and several Deku Babas, since they were leaving a sound that Dark could identify quite easily. There was also very faint sound of Wallmaster in the next room but it mainly stayed still and very high in the ceiling.

Dark wanted to take out his sword, knife or one of the arrows and just draw circles in the floor. Yet, he didn't want to wake the Hero up by the screeching sound. The ex-shadow sighed and looked once around himself. There was nothing around them and he wasn't hearing anything that would be creeping in for an attack either. The dark Hylian sighed and stretched a little before slumping back into his earlier position.

_"...Shadow..."_

Dark's head jolted up, he stood up in a flash and he looked around quite bewildered. There still wasn't anything around them. He couldn't hear any of monsters close by either... Well, except for the Wallmaster but it certainly couldn't open doors. The dark Hylian sighed, sat back down and shook his head. "I'm hearing things already..." He muttered quietly and chuckled slightly.

_"...Shadow of the Hero of Light..."_

Dark shot up fully frightened. _"It can't be..."_ He thought and carefully and very quietly walked to the door where they were going to head once Link would wake up. The dark Hylian closed his eyes and pushed his ear against the door. _"...Nogard?"_ The ex-shadow thought fully confused.

_"Hear my call, shadow..."_

Dark sighed bit in relief and carefully went down to the floor. _"I hear ya but I'm not yet coming."_ He thought and opened his eyes. Link was still sleeping quite peacefully on the floor.

_"Shadow of the Hero of Light... Come and face me..."_

Dark chuckled and shook his head. _"Not yet. I'll be there once I'm not coming alone."_ He thought and pushed himself back up to his feet. Quietly he walked back to the stairs and sat down. _"It's not Nogard... Not yet at least..."_ The dark Hylian thought with a sad smile.

_"Come to me... **Cien**..."_

Dark was fully startled and he narrowed his eyes in slight anger. _"**Who are you?**"_ He questioned carefully with same kind of hissing sound as the last word of the unknown talker had used. The dark Hylian could easily hear the laugh of the caller.

**_"Shouldn't you know?"_**

Dark closed his eyes and tried to calm down. The voice was familiar but he couldn't fully recognize it. The talker laughed again and the voice of it got shivers run down the dark Hylian's back. **_"Who-who are you...?"_ **The ex-shadow inquired again but this time he was lacking the courage. The voice laughed again and Dark shivered even harder.

**_"If you think, you might remember... But maybe the light has blinded even your memories..."_**

Dark refused to answer but he started to go through his memories. The laughing inside of his head didn't help even one bit but at least it kept the voice very fresh in there. The sound of Link's movement got the dark Hylian to open his eyes. It cut his work of trying to identify the talker but he certainly didn't want the Hero to know what was going on with him. Dark sighed in relief when Link had only moved a bit in his sleep but hadn't woken up.

**_"Can't remember... But neither can you _****SEE!_"_**

Dark stood up in pure shock and took couple of steps backwards with a silent gasp. The last word had been fully screamed in his head and quite soon after that two glowing red eyes appeared into the room right above the door. In pure fear the ex-shadow pulled out his sword and readied for the attack. He glanced once at Link before returning his gaze back to the hovering eyes.

**_"COME AND FIND ME!"_**

The eyes shot straight towards Dark after the screeching scream. Dark was petrified and stood still while the glowing red eyes came at him. He couldn't even close his own eyes and the creature's eyes went straight through him. The ex-shadow screamed out loud before crashing back first into the stairs.

Link jolted awake and he drew out his sword in a flash. "_DARK!_" He screamed out and ran straight to the darker Hylian. Dark was slowly sitting up. He was breathing fast and keeping his eyes closed. "Dark! What happened? Are you alright?" The Hero questioned straight off once he got close enough to him.

Dark gave a small nod. "Y-yeah..." He whispered but cursed slightly at his shaking voice. Link was just going to argue when the darker Hylian already continued: "I... I think I fell asleep and had a nightmare... Sorry..."

Link sighed in relief and sat down next to him. "It's okay... This room is quite enemy free anyways." He answered with a slight chuckle. "Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" The Hero continued carefully but sighed quite disappointed when Dark shook his head. "Okay... Maybe you could get some actual sleep now. I'll keep eye on things on that time." Link offered but the darker Hylian shook his head again.

"Nah... We'd better just continue..." Dark replied, sheathed the sword and stood up. He didn't glance at Link while heading straight to the door. "You coming?" He questioned and glanced once at the Hero. Link sighed but nodded. He walked back to his equipment and put them on before coming next to Dark. **_"I know who you are..."_** The ex-shadow thought quite confidently but shivered when the creature laughed again.

**_"I _****knew_ that would remind you..."_**

Dark nearly growled in anger while going through the door. He didn't wait even one bit for Link to follow when he already jumped down from their pillar. The duo walked to the pit and jumped down to the lower floor. Link was feeling slightly worried for the darker Hylian. _"He's not himself currently..."_ The Hero thought and sighed then. "Dark..." He started but Dark cut him short.

"I know already, Link. You don't blame me for falling asleep." He stated bit angrily. Link sighed but nodded with slightly apolitical smile. _"Though, you quite certainly should be mad at me... I would've risked our lives by falling asleep..."_ Dark thought, took once a deep breath and started to concentrate with their next problem.

The room they had come into had black and white tiles on the floor. Not too far from there was area where the ceiling, that looked exactly like the floor, was willing to crush them. There were only few areas where they could be safe before reaching the door.

"Do you remember the pattern?" Link questioned and glanced at the darker Hylian. Dark sighed.

"Somehow... I just don't remember where those Skulltulas were at." He replied and took few steps forward. The ceiling came down quite fast. It startled the ex-shadow and he took couple of steps backwards. Link walked next to him and watched the rising and falling of the ceiling. After a short while he crouched down and watched how the ceiling came down few more times.

"Well, I do know how to get through here..." The Hero said once he straightened up fully. "Follow me and stay very close. These tiles aren't that of wide." He stated and took a grip on the darker Hylian's arm. "Now!" Link shouted and started to run towards the first safe area.

Dark followed in slight fear. He remembered this floor very well. Link had always waited for him to come back while he had just walked through without any care in the world. The ceiling had come down on him but couldn't harm even slightest bit because he had been a _shadow_ at the time. Now the ceiling could easily crush him if things were timed wrongly or he wasn't fully in the safe area.

Link knew exactly where he was going. Straight first while going past one row of tiles. The safe place was just couple of tiles from the wall. Then to diagonal way straight to wall, about six to seven rows away from the starting area. They managed to pass the first Skulltula easily. Next way was two rows down and straight to other wall. The second Skulltula was left behind without problems.

The duo took a short break at the two tiles wide area. Dark was nearly out of breath but it was mainly because he was scared and going through the area for first time by the cost of his own life. "Hard, isn't it?" Link questioned bit amused.

"At least I know now what you've gone through..." The darker Hylian replied and tried to calm down. Once he had caught his breath and nerves again, Link took a grip on his arm again and thought for a while for the right way before already dragging the ex-shadow after him.

"Two tiles forward and four down." Link stated while pulling the darker Hylian after him. Dark only nodded but he wasn't counting the tiles at all. Instead, he thoroughly trusted Link to handle the counting and saving them from certain death. The ex-shadow nearly sighed in relief once they reached the next safe place.

Next part was easy. It was once again next to the wall and just two rows down. It was quite smallish but the duo was in safe. "Last run." Link stated while waiting for the ceiling start to rise back up again. Dark nodded and very soon the Hero was dragging him forward again. They dashed straight towards the door from there.

Once they reached it, the duo leaned against the door and tried to calm down. Dark had his back against the door while Link was sideways to it. "And we gotta do this for second round too..." Dark mumbled with slight groan.

Link chuckled. "Well, we've done it once, so I'm certain it won't be hard to do it again." He answered and laughed slightly when the darker Hylian looked at him bit angrily. "Just kidding. There's another way out of the next room." Link continued with a wink. Dark sighed and shook his head. "Anyways, how about we'd continue and check if we can find the flame thieve from there..." The Hero said and was just going to open the door when the ex-shadow stopped him fully.

"Wait..." Dark started while moving slightly to block Link's access to the door. "There's something I have to tell you..." He continued bit nervously and dropped his gaze to the ground.

"Alright. What is it?" Link inquired quite interested. Dark sighed and raised his gaze up to meet the Hero's blue eyes. The Hero raised an eyebrow while waiting for the darker Hylian to continue. _"I hope he'll explain about his nightmare... That might shed some light into his past too."_ He hoped.

Dark took once a deep breath to calm himself down. "I..." He started, sighed and dropped his gaze down. "I know these four creatures we're going to fight against..." The dark Hylian continued quietly with sorrowful voice.

"Um... I'm sorry...?" Link replied bit awkwardly. Dark sighed again and shook his head.

"It's not like that..." He stated and raised his gaze but didn't meet with Link's eyes. "I've met them several times so I kinda know how to fight them... And... Well..." The ex-shadow was starting to stumble with his words again before falling quiet. He closed his eyes and leaned fully against the door.

Link stayed silent. He wasn't fully sure what to say and instead of fully looking at the darker Hylian, he dropped his gaze to the ground while feeling bit nervous. _"I kinda figured he'd know the creatures we've fought with but... There's probably bit more of connection between him and these four..."_ The Hero thought sadly and raised his gaze back up when the ex-shadow started to talk again.

"I... I need you to follow my words fully without exception." Dark stated confidently while finally meeting with Link's gaze. The look on the darker Hylian's face didn't leave any option for arguing back. Link nodded but didn't say a word. The ex-shadow took once a deep breath but the confident look didn't vanish at all.

"Once we enter the room you won't move even one inch. Don't look the creature into the eyes and stay thoroughly silent." Dark started quite commandingly but right after that he dropped his gaze down. _"This is a part he'll hate and probably won't accept at all..."_ He thought worriedly.

Link watched the darker Hylian and frowned a bit when he fell silent again. _"There's more to this than what he has already told... And how the hell am I supposed to fight the creature if I can't even see it or move to attack?"_ The Hero thought bit confused. He was just going to say something when the ex-shadow raised his gaze back up.

"The creature will target me first. Just listen to what's going on but don't do a thing until everything's quieted down. It won't kill me. I promise you that. It won't even harm me so don't worry for my sake." Dark started again and Link was more than ready to say against the plan on that second, yet the darker Hylian raised his hand to stop the Hero from talking. "The main plan is that once the creature has calmed down, you'll attack." The ex-shadow explained.

Link sighed nearly exaggerated. "Finally. I was starting to think we won't fight at all..." He half mumbled. Dark snorted and shook his head.

"The flame's going to be on the creature's tail. But here's the thing. Either attack its neck or cut the tail. _If_ you go against the neck, you'll have to strike straight through it so the sword will come out on the throat. The easier way is to attack on the tail. Cut it fully off, take the fallen tail, back off few steps while keeping the flame behind your back. After that stay put. _Thoroughly_ unmoving and silent. _AND_ keep your eyes closed." The darker Hylian stated out the facts in nearly commanding voice.

Link raised one eyebrow after Dark fell silent while waiting for the Hero's reply. "How am I supposed to fight if I have to keep my eyes closed whole time?" He questioned thoroughly puzzled.

Dark facepalmed and shook his head. "You can open your eyes once the creature has calmed down. After you've either struck the sword through the neck or cut the tail off, you'll close your eyes again." He clarified very slowly.

Link rolled his eyes with a slight grin. "I did figure that much out, thank you very much." He stated with a grin.

Dark sighed. "Then don't ask stupid questions!" He half barked while crossing his arms over his chest. "This is hard enough already..." The ex-shadow mumbled while dropping his gaze back to the ground. Link was just going to say something encouraging when Dark sighed and stood straight. "Let's just get the first flame off..." He mumbled, turned around but before opening the door, he looked at the Hero over his shoulder. "Eyes down or closed. Once we enter, keep them fully closed. And_ don't move._"

Link nodded before taking a deep breath and unsheathing his sword. Dark nodded back, turned back to the door and opened it. The Hero kept his gaze in the floor while the darker Hylian walked in head held high. Link could easily hear something moving around the room. He quietly gasped when he crashed with the ex-shadow's outstretched arm. "_Close your eyes._" Dark whispered right after the door had clanged shut.

The creature stopped moving and looked around. Both Dark and Link stood still for a while until the darker Hylian left to walk away from the Hero. He kept his gaze in the ground and followed the creature's movements from the corner of his eyes. The monster moved very slowly but its notion was fully in the ex-shadow.

Dark glanced at Link to make sure he was far enough before finally raising his gaze up. The creature was like a serpent. Its scales were orange, like living fire. The flame in the end of the dragon's tail was blue. The creature looked a lot like what Link had told about Volvagia except this one had glowing red eyes and the talons in its hands were black. The creature didn't have hind legs at all but in its back were two small wings that would never lift the monster into air. In the back was long row of sharp blades and in the head was four horns.

The monster's eyes met straight off with Dark's. **"I see you..." **The creature hissed with a menacing voice and devilish grin. Dark gasped quietly and stopped moving. The sword and shield clanged to the floor. The ex-shadow stared right into the creature's eyes without being able to look away or blink. He couldn't move even one inch. **"Been a while, hasn't it? Let's see if you're any more ready than you were before..."** The monster continued, screeched and took off straight towards the dark Hylian.

Link had flinched when the sword and shield fell from Dark's grip. _"What the heck's going on?"_ He wondered in worry but he didn't want to go against the darker Hylian's command so he stood still. Suddenly he heard the screech which got him to jump in surprise and very soon after that he heard the ex-shadow gasp like he would've been hit by something and next thing was that the darker Hylian crashed to his knees. _"Dark?!"_ The Hero questioned and fought against the urge of opening his eyes to see what was happening.

Dark stared nearly terrified how the creature came right at him. He wanted to close his eyes, to look away, move out of the monster's attack or at least to do _something_ but he just stared and stood still. Suddenly the creature went straight through him just like the glowing red eyes had done earlier. The ex-shadow gasped and fell to his knees while shaking like a leaf and breathing heavily. He raised his gaze back up to meet the creature's glowing eyes and locked eyes with it. The monster was smirking while slowly and carefully rounding its body to the floor like a snake. The eye contact wasn't broken even for a second. **_"Let's see what's in your head this time..."_** The creature stated straight to Dark through the mind.

The dark Hylian felt like every single memory was fully exposed to the monster. He could easily feel the creature going through his mind and flipping open his feelings, memories and every other thing in there. He felt the cold grip on his body that was slowly tightening and making the breathing harder. He gasped when one of the memories was fully brought out and investigated from different angles. **_"Hmm... Never seen this one before... Oooh! What about this one, hmm?!"_ **The monster said silently from mind to mind among other small remarks.

Dark fought back against the grip, against the ripping of his memories and feelings. But the connection was too strong for the ex-shadow to do much and the creature had him under the magic of its own. The dark Hylian felt like drowning while being ripped into smaller pieces from inside. _"L-Link..."_ Dark called weakly in his mind while nearly crying. _"H-help..."_

The sound of the creature's moving slowed down until it was very vague and silent. All Link could hear was Dark's heavy breathing and that worried the Hero greatly. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked carefully to his left. "Oh goddesses... No..." Link whispered in pure shock and turned his gaze into the monster. Very carefully and silently the Hero started to move towards the monster with the sword ready.

The monster's head was way too high for him to get a strike in but the tail... That was slowly moving from side to side and it was fully in Link's reach. _"Just hang in there a bit longer, Dark..."_ The Hero thought while taking the tail fully for his target. He walked close, charged the sword for a Spin Attack and let it rip.

The creature screamed in pure agony while breaking the eye contact with Dark. The monster threw its head backwards to stare straight into the ceiling while screaming. Dark gasped and crashed to the ground fully. He slowly closed his eyes very tightly while still shivering violently and curling up. Link took up the tail and hid it behind himself. He glanced once at Dark before already backing away from the monster while keeping his gaze in the ground and eventually shutting his eyes very tightly. After having taken enough of room between himself and the dragon he stopped moving and just stood still.

The creature straightened up to its full size very soon after the tail was cut off. It screamed constantly while going into frenzy and crashing from wall to wall. **"My tail! Where is my tail?! You bastard! Where are you?! I'll rip you into pieces! I'll make you relive it all! You'll pay for this! Count my words, _shadow_, I'll come back for you!"** The creature shouted out in that hissing language of its.

Link shivered and nearly gasped when the creature went past him from way too close. Eventually the creature's screams, hissing and crashing slowly died down. The Hero sighed in relief when there was the sound of the monster vanishing into black mist. He opened his eyes, brought the tail in front of him and let go of it. The tail vanished while letting the blue flame free. The flame left the room and Link knew it to return back to its rightful place into the main room.

Right after that he dashed to the darker Hylian's side. "_DARK!_" He screamed out, hit to the ground and skid that last short distance. "Dark... Oh, goddesses... Dark, are you alright? What happened?" Link questioned worriedly while leaning over him. He carefully placed his hand over the darker Hylian's shoulder.

Dark was very slowly calming down. He carefully opened his eyes while letting his body relax and straighten up. "Dark?" Link called fearfully. The darker Hylian sighed, closed his eyes again and very carefully and slowly sat up. He kept his back towards the Hero while leaning against his other hand and keeping the other one to his forehead while hanging his head slightly. "Are you alright? What the hell did that creature do to you?" Link questioned nearly bewildered.

The Hero was slightly calming down. At least there hadn't been done too much of damage since the darker Hylian could move and he didn't see any of blood. The thing that worried Link the most was the fact that Dark had felt quite coldish when he had touched him. "I... I'll be okay..." Dark whispered quietly but lay back down to the floor. "I... I think I could s-sleep for a while..." He mumbled before already calming down and falling asleep while curling up again.

Link watched the darker Hylian fully worried. He looked once around until he found what he was searching for. The blue carpet. The one right in front of the door that led to a way back to the middle room. The Hero stood up and went to retrieve it. Right after that he carefully placed the carpet over the sleeping dark Hylian.

Link sat down not too far from Dark. He kept eye on the ex-shadow just to make sure he still kept breathing. It took several hours before the dark Hylian finally stirred. He coughed few times while slowly sitting up. He kept his eyes closed while keeping one hand to his forehead. Link moved carefully next to him. "How are you feeling, Dark?" He questioned bit distraught.

"...Headache..." Dark replied very quietly while slowly opening his eyes and staring straight into the floor in front of him. He closed his eyes again while letting his hand fall to his lap and carefully leaning his head back. "This... This was harder than last time..." The ex-shadow whispered, opened his sad gaze and stared right up into the ceiling. "I... I never knew... what it really had been..." He continued before sighing, closing his eyes and slumping fully.

"Dark?" Link called again while carefully laying his hand over the darker Hylian's shoulder. Dark carefully circled his arms around himself before starting to cry. The Hero sighed sadly and pulled the ex-shadow into an embrace. "It'll be okay, Dark. I promise..." He whispered quietly.

"I-I..." Dark started but fell silent nearly instantly. "This... This might sound foolish... but... the times were different then..." He continued with wavering voice. "I... I went... I went to meet with these creatures long ago. Well, I didn't know there was more than one but still... It's... It's like you and cuccos..." The dark Hylian went on while his voice started to regain its strength.

The ex-shadow sighed and raised his head to Link's shoulder while leaning fully into the embrace. "At first it was just out of curiosity. Heard of the dragon that could read one's mind. They claimed that one couldn't break free unless the creature lets go. The first time took me off guard. I didn't know what to wait for. Second time went bit better but I wasn't able to do much at then either... And I kept foolishly going on with it. I just tried to find a way..." He explained quietly. "But... I was a shadow at then... I didn't have feelings like I do today... It was hard already at then but now..." Dark continued and fell silent.

_"I didn't know memories could hurt like that... I didn't feel much at then and my life was already hard enough. Not to mention that I didn't really have much of memories to go for in the first place..."_ The dark Hylian thought while closing his eyes again. Link carefully tightened his grip on the ex-shadow and let him cry. Eventually Dark took once a deep breath and pulled off of the hug. "Sorry... I didn't mean to crash like that..." He mumbled quite ashamed and kept his gaze in the ground.

"It's alright. How are you feeling?" Link replied while giving him bit sad smile. Dark shrugged and finally raised his gaze up to meet the Hero's eyes. The contact didn't last long until the ex-shadow already dropped his gaze back to the ground. He only gave another shrug, stood up and walked to the closest wall. The Hero watched worriedly about his doing.

Dark leaned back first against the wall with a sad sigh while closing his eyes. _"I never thought to fight them like this... Against any of these creatures. Something's fully wrong and I have no idea what's going on. Maybe the Forest Sage will know something once we've rescued her... We just gotta get that far first and on our way is still three more flames to release. I don't know if I can take this..."_ The dark Hylian thought sadly.

Link definitely didn't like the way Dark was at the moment. The bad thing was that he didn't have right words to say or anything he could do to help the darker Hylian. _"I only had Volvagia to fight against but Dark... How many did he know in reality out of all of these creatures? And how many is yet to come to face him?"_ The Hero wondered, sighed and stood up. He walked right in front of Dark and put his hands to both sides of the darker Hylian. "Dark." He started carefully.

Dark was bit startled to hear Link so close to him but he was fully freaked out when he opened his eyes and saw the Hero even closer than what he thought. "I don't know if this helps but think it this way... All of who you are going to face, they're not who you think them to be... Um... In a way... By killing them, you'll set them free... Like what happened with Volvagia..." Link explained bit nervously while trying desperately to find the right words. Dark sighed but he nodded.

"I know, Link. I'll see them again at some time..." The dark Hylian muttered and carefully moved away from the current place between the wall and the Hero. He walked silently to his sword and shield. Dark picked them up and sheathed the sword while putting the shield away. "Let's just get this over with..." The ex-shadow continued, took the carpet up and started to head towards the door that lead into the middle room.

Link sighed sadly, shook his head and followed the darker Hylian. _"This will certainly come to bite him sooner or later..."_ He feared while helping to put the carpet back to its rightful place. After that they opened the door and came to the small pathway that connected the middle room and the room where the flame thief had been at.

The pathway was equally filled with new bushes and few think branches. Dark led the way and Link followed worriedly. Luckily they didn't crash up with any of monsters and came to the middle room without trouble. The ex-shadow didn't wait even one bit. He just took his way towards the area where they had encountered Navi.

The small pathway was equally free of monsters as was the one before. Dark walked straight to one of the lower hanging branches and sat down. He closed his eyes and just listened. Link walked next to him but leaned against the tree while watching the darker Hylian. "Dark..." He called carefully. The ex-shadow sighed and opened his eyes to glance at the Hero. "We need to talk." Link continued quite confidently.

Dark half growled. "And I'm trying to hear where to go from here." He replied bit angrily while closing his eyes again.

"That can wait for—" The Hero started to talk but the darker Hylian cut him short.

"Just _shut up_!" He half barked and opened his eyes again to glare at Link. "We can talk later. Right now we got a Forest Sage to save. For that we gotta get the freaking flames back." Dark continued while dropping his gaze down.

"And how are we going to find the next flame thief, huh?" Link questioned. He crossed his arms over his chest while starting to get angry. Dark half growled.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do..." He muttered while hoping that the Hero would actually stay quiet long enough that he could get the next creature's voice heard. Link shook his head and looked around for a while.

"And how are we supposed to find our way back here, hmm?" The Hero inquired while fully ignoring Dark's request. The darker Hylian was losing his temper quite fast. He was feeling bad enough for having to fight against creatures he knew and now he was being questioned with idiotic inquiries.

"As far as I've learned there's always another way out." Dark answered with quite cold voice. "Now... _SHUT UP!_" He nearly screamed, jumped down from the branch and walked bit away from Link to another tree. The ex-shadow climbed up to bit higher branch, closed his eyes and tried to calm down so he could hear the next creature's voice.

Link was fully startled about the darker Hylian's outburst. _"Well, if nothing else then Dark has actual confidence when he's getting angry... Not the best way of gaining that but I think it'll work..."_ He thought while starting to calm down. Without moving from his place, he kept eye on the ex-shadow.

Dark then again was slower to calm down. He had turned his back towards the Hero and leaned against the trunk of the tree. _"I hate this... Why can't I ever just stay calm? He's trying to help and— Link's right... I'm always pushing him away when he's trying to help me. But how much can I tell him without fearing to lose his friendship? If he knew even a fraction of my life... He'd definitely turn his back to me..."_ He thought, slumped a bit in fear and just waited but nothing happened. The ex-shadow opened his eyes slowly with a deep frown. _"That's odd... _He'd_ usually come at me by now..."_ He thought and sighed then. _"One more thing to worry about... Oh, well, on the other hand I should be happy that _he_ has left me alone for a while now..."_ Dark thought, took once a deep breath and finally started to calm down.

It took some time but eventually the ex-shadow was quite startled about the low growling. He sighed and climbed down from the tree. Dark stood still for a while and kept his eyes closed. The growling was still quite quiet but the dark Hylian managed to identify where it was coming from. Without a word he showed to Link to follow him.

The Hero sighed but pushed himself off of the tree and walked to Dark. The darker Hylian showed to the Hero very clearly not to speak. Link sighed again and rolled his eyes before already following the ex-shadow into the darker forest.

Dark was feeling nervous and bit fearful. There was lot of things he wanted to think about but right then and there he had to concentrate into the growling. It was getting bit louder whole time but the sound was strangely circling around the place instead of coming from one specific way.

Link frowned in confusion and glanced behind them. The forest looked the same in every direction. There was no reason to circle around like that. From time to time the darker Hylian stopped and just listened before following a sound that the Hero couldn't hear. _"Where in earth are we going?"_ Link thought bit fearfully. _"I honestly hope this won't be a trap..."_

Eventually the duo came to a door. The ex-shadow had closed his eyes a while earlier so he could get a bit better concentration into the growl. "Dark!" Link called bit surprised and stopped the darker Hylian from going forward. Dark yelped in shock and opened his eyes in a flash. He gasped when he saw the door not too far from him. "I think we're here." The Hero said with a slight grin while letting go of Dark.

The ex-shadow sighed and nodded. "Yeah..." He whispered and turned around right after that. "Same orders than before." Dark stated out as commandingly as he could.

Link sighed and shook his head while crossing his arms over his chest. "No." He stated very confidently. The darker Hylian narrowed his eyes in slight anger.

"_You_ don't know what's at there!" Dark half shouted while pointing towards the door. "But _I_ do." He continued with slightly calmer voice. "And I tell you this... There's is no chances for you to survive through what the earlier dragon did." The ex-shadow stated grimly.

Link narrowed his eyes. "You survived through it just barely. I'm not going to let you re-live that." He stated firmly.

Dark sighed and shook his head. "Weren't you listening to me at all? I told you I've gone through this many times. I'll be fine!" He replied as confidently as he could.

"Yeah... When you were a _shadow_, Dark. You're not that anymore." Link replied bit cruelly. Yet, he regretted his words on the second the darker Hylian flinched at word 'shadow'. "I... I'm just..." The Hero started without knowing what to say.

Dark dropped his gaze to ground and turned his hands into fists. "_Fine!_" He shouted in anger and raised his gaze up. "Stay here and let me handle this shit on my own then!" The ex-shadow continued with slightly shaking voice before already turning his back to Link.

"_Wait!_" The Hero shouted and shot forward. He hugged the darker Hylian from behind while preventing him from moving forward. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I... I just don't want you to get hurt." Link whispered desperately. _"Goddesses! He's having very short temper today... I really gotta be careful with my words."_ He thought in slight worry and sighed then. "Okay... We go by your plan, Dark." Link said as calmly as he could while giving up on the fight.

Dark sighed and nodded. "Okay... And I'm sorry too. This... This just... It's hard." He stated sadly while relaxing. Link let go of him and the darker Hylian turned around. "We good now?" He questioned bit fearfully.

The Hero nodded with a smile. "Of course." He replied with happier voice. Dark sighed again but smiled none the less. "So, shall we get the second flame, hmm?" Link continued and nodded towards the door.

"Yeah. Of course..." Dark replied and turned around again. He walked to the door, took once a deep breath and opened it after that.

Link sighed and the confident and happy look fell into worried and sad one on the second the ex-shadow turned his back to him. _"How the hell can I help him when he's keeping me so far away?"_ He thought sadly. While keeping his gaze down, the Hero entered the wide square room with Dark. _"Let's hope I won't be breaking what we already have but... I just _CAN'T_ let him go through that hell all over again."_ Link decided bit fearfully and raised his gaze up when the door locked right behind them.

The dragon's only difference to the earlier one was the color and the fact that it had hind legs too. This creature was a mix of two different red's, blood and ruby. The flame the serpent carried in its tail was green. And the monster locked eyes with Link on the second the Hero raised his gaze up. **"A new prey... How lovely..."** It whispered with an evil grin.

Dark's eyes widened in fear. "No..." He whispered and turned around in a flash to look at Link. The ex-shadow stared at the Hero for a short while before turning his gaze back to the dragon. "You won't touch him." Dark growled angrily and readied himself for the fight.

Link was shaking under the stare of the dragon. He just barely managed to hold on to the sword and shield. The feeling of the creature staring straight into his mind... No, rather into his _soul_, was terrifying and painful feeling. _"Oh dear goddesses... Is _this_ what Dark felt?"_ The Hero thought while trying to fight against the monster's grip.

_"Let... Me... Through..."_ The dragon whispered menacingly from mind to mind while staring straight into Link's blue eyes. The Hero shivered violently at the voice. He felt like the creature was slowly breaking through his defense but at the same time the monster's own defense was crumbling down.

_"If I just can hold on a bit longer... Maybe... Maybe I'd have a chance..."_ Link thought while fighting against the cold grip inside his chest. The loud roar of the monster got the Hero to jump and gasp in shock and fear.

Dark frowned a bit once he had returned his gaze back to the dragon. Something didn't add up and the ex-shadow turned back towards Link. It was only then he realized that the Hero was still holding on to his weapons. The dark Hylian stared in amazement about the scenery. _"How... How the hell he can fight back?... Am I that different from him? Am I... Am I such a loser that I can't fight against these dragons?"_ He thought while turning his gaze off because of the hurting in his chest.

Dark shook his head and tried to gather his crumbling confidence and courage. _"NO! It can't be like that... I CAN match him. I HAVE to... I'm his SHADOW for Goddesses sake!... But... I've faced these creatures before. I _know_ them. This is Link's second dragon of these and... Why can't I match him?! WHY?!"_ The ex-shadow knew he was breaking down right there and then but he couldn't help it, yet the sudden roar of the dragon jolted him back to the reality.

Dark turned his gaze to the scene and pure terror hit him on full force. "_NOO!_" He screamed out and ran straight towards Link. He pushed the Hero out of the dragon's way and instead of the dragon going through Link, it went straight through the darker Hylian. The ex-shadow gasped in pain and closed his eyes tightly while falling to all four. He was gasping for air and just barely heard the creature's hateful voice.

**"How dare you! You pathetic syn of the Velnias! I'll deal with you later, traitor!"** The monster screamed while seething with rage. It moved fast and slashed with its long tail. Dark had forced himself nearly to his feet when the tail came right at him. The strike was powerful and got the dark Hylian to fly nearly into the wall. The ex-shadow fell quite harshly to the floor back first and the impact blew his air out.

It took a short while from Link to realize what had happened. He stared at Dark without understanding what he was witnessing. Only when the dragon hit the ex-shadow and the darker Hylian screamed, Link finally woke up. "_DARK!_" He screamed out while standing up very fast and being ready to rush to Dark's side.

_"Halt!"_ The dragon commanded harshly through the mind. Link gasped in pure bewilderment and stopped without really understanding why. _"Look... At... Me..."_ The creature continued and stared at the Hero with an evil grin. Link gulped but he didn't have a chance of going against the command and so he turned to face the dragon.

"No... Link... DON'T!" Dark was trying very hard to get back to his feet. He stared in fear how the Hero faced the monster all over again without being able to do anything to stop it. "_LINK!_" The ex-shadow screamed out when the Hero and dragon locked eyes all over again. This time the deep red beast had a stronger grip on Link.

The Hero gasped and took a step backwards. The sword and shield slipped off of his grip and clanged to the floor. The freezing cold grip in Link's chest was stronger and the stare was more intense. He was shaking violently while fighting with all he got against the dragon's grip.

_"That's it... Let me through..."_ The creature whispered quietly while smirking cruelly. _"Not much anymore..."_ It continued while slowly taking a bit better stance. The dragon started to lower down towards the floor while taking a bit better grip of the tiled ground with its razor sharp talons. The monster was readying itself to bounce forward with full speed.

Dark stood up shakily. He grit his teeth in anger while realizing that his sword and shield were close to Link. The ex-shadow took out his small knife and started to make his way slowly and shakily towards the dragon. The further he got, the more strength and speed he picked up. Soon he was running towards the creature.

The dragon gave out a small laugh while its grin widened. **"Finally."** It muttered and was ready to head straight towards the Hero. The creature didn't pay even slightest notion to the ex-shadow but its movement was bit too slow.

Dark jumped when he got close enough. He landed into the monster's neck and the ex-shadow didn't wait even a second before already striking the knife as deep into the neck as he could get it. The dragon screamed out and started to trash. **"You damn zradce!"** The dragon shrieked while trying to shake the attacker out of its neck.

Link crashed to all four into the floor when the eye contact was broken. He was gasping for air while trying to calm down. "_LINK!_" The terrified scream jolted the Hero back to reality and he shot his head up. Link gasped in fear when he saw the scene.

Dark was hanging on to the knife for his dear life. The creature tried to crush him against walls and ceiling but so far the dark Hylian had been lucky and moved off of the way. "_CUT THE TAIL, LINK! CUT IT!"_ The ex-shadow screamed while his grip on the knife was slipping. He kept fixing his grip but the blood of the dragon was making it hard to hold on.

Link stared in fear for a short while longer before taking the closest sword up and searching for the monster's tail. Once he located it, the Hero didn't let it out of his sight even for a second. _"Just hang in there for a while longer, Dark..."_ Link thought while readying himself for the attack. He ran towards the madly swishing tail while powering the sword up for a Spin Attack. The Hero's concentration was disturbed when he heard something hit the ground. He glanced towards the sound and stopped dead on his tracks.

Dark's grip on the small knife weakened whole time and eventually he couldn't hold on anymore. The blood had made the handle way too slippery and the dark Hylian gasped quietly when he started to fall off of the dragon's neck. The creature realized the situation and moved its body so it could slam against the ex-shadow.

Dark gasped again when the red monster slammed against him and got him to fall to ground back first. The ex-shadow was out of breath by the impact. **"You're dead."** The dragon stated cruelly while bringing its right foot over the dark Hylian. Dark stared in fear at the talons that were pointed straight at him.

Link turned his gaze back to the tail but by that time the dragon had raised it out of the Hero's reach. Link cursed, turned around and rushed straight towards Dark. There wasn't much he could do but if luck was be on his side, he still could save the darker Hylian's life.

Dark closed his eyes when the razor sharp talons started to come right towards him. _"Oh shit... Never thought my life would end like this..."_ He thought fearfully but gasped slightly and shot his eyes open when something crashed right onto him. "L-Link?!" The ex-shadow nearly shouted in pure fear when he saw the Hero over him. The talons were coming way too fast for the darker Hylian to do anything to fix the situation.

Link hit to the ground and slid the small distance. Right after that he stood up halfway before already crashing back first over the ex-shadow. He winced slightly when he heard Dark gasp at the weight. But the Hero ignored the darker Hylian fully while pointing the sword straight towards the creature's foot.

Link closed his eyes while Dark stared horrified how the sword cut straight through the foot. The dragon screamed in pain while withdrawing its foot. The Hero gasped in slight surprise since the sword was stuck in the foot and he was rising up with it. The darker Hylian didn't think at all when he shot forward and took a tight grip of the Hero around the waist and pulling downwards. The sword came with them and the monster screamed even more.

Link put the sword down and took out his bow and few arrows. The dragon didn't have time to move its head or cover its throat before the first arrow was already flying. It went straight through the creature's throat and Link readied the next arrow very quickly. "Any elements to use?!" He half shouted before already letting the arrow fly.

"I... I don't... I don't know..." Dark replied bit uncertainly. He was staring at the scene with wide eyes. The ex-shadow was still holding on to Link but his grip was very weak.

"_Fine._" Link muttered bit angrily and readied the last three arrows into same strike. The dragon had its throat still exposed and the Hero used the given chance. The three last arrows flew and hit their target. "You got arrows to use? I'm out of them." Link questioned while looking around in search of something useful.

Dark shook his head. "No..." He whispered and nearly froze out of fear when the dragon brought its head down and stared menacingly straight at them. "Oh crap..." The ex-shadow whispered, tightened his grip on Link again and half forced him to his feet. The dragon readied an elemental attack and the darker Hylian had noticed the small flames in the corner of the creature's mouth. "_MOVE!_" Dark screamed while already dragging the Hero with him off of the attack's way.

The ex-shadow nearly slammed Link against the closest wall while staying between the attack and the Hero. The flame's furthest parts slightly graced them but didn't do any of harm. "You said it would die out of that!" Link half hissed while backing away from the next attack with the darker Hylian.

"Sword, Link, _sword_!" Dark replied back angrily. "Arrows don't kill it. They'll harm but don't kill!" He continued before already starting to run towards the dragon. Link screamed out the ex-shadow's name in fear but the next fire attack forced him to back away even further from the darker Hylian.

Dark dived forward and did a fast somersault while taking his own sword up from the ground since the Hero had been actually using it. Once back to his feet, the ex-shadow continued his running and scanned for the best way of getting to the creature's back. Such situation wasn't given to him, so he went for the next best way and slashed with all his strength at the hind leg.

The dragon screamed out again while exposing its throat all over again. But that wasn't all. It also slammed the tail to ground and Dark shot straight towards it. He readied the sword for a Spin Attack and once close enough he let it loose. The attack didn't fully cut the tail off but the ex-shadow wasn't going to lose such a great chance.

The creature started to move its tail quite harshly but it couldn't shake the dark Hylian off of it. Dark had hit the sword through the smaller part of the tail while nearly hugging the said part. The dragon swished the tail all around but each movement was only hurting even worse and each harsh move worsened the tail's condition by ripping it open even more. Eventually the creature screamed out in agony when the tail flew on its own way.

Dark let go and used the given speed for his help. Once he hit the ground the ex-shadow did a fast somersault before already standing up to his feet. "Close your eyes, Link!" Dark screamed out while rushing towards the flame. Link took once a deep breath before already closing his eyes and standing still. Dark closed his own eyes once he had taken the tail up and hid it behind his back.

The dragon was way too tired and weak to trash anymore. It only whimpered and whined quietly while waiting for death to take it. **_"I'm sorry..."_** Dark thought sadly in that hissing voice while hoping that the creature heard him.

The monster sighed sorrowfully while starting to fade into the black mist. **"So am I."** It replied quietly while closing its eyes and eventually fading fully. Once the dragon was gone, Dark fell to his knees before slowly bringing the flame in front of him. He let it loose but didn't follow its way out of there.

Link rushed to the darker Hylian's side. "Dark, are you alright?!" He questioned straight off while falling to his knees right in front of the ex-shadow. Dark nodded while slowly gathering his strength back. "Are you hurt?" Link continued his questioning and the darker Hylian only shook his head. The Hero sighed in relief and finally relaxed.

Dark was too tired to bark the Hero down for not following the plan. Once he had gathered his breath, the ex-shadow stood up shakily. "Let's just get out of here..." He whispered quietly while seething his sword and heading towards Link's sword and shield.

Link sighed but followed the darker Hylian. They stayed silent while checking that all of their things were along. Suddenly the walls started to move a bit and created a stairway nearly into the ceiling. "Didn't notice that door before..." Dark muttered while noticing their way out of the room. The Hero only nodded and followed once again when the ex-shadow took the lead.

They were halfway to the door when there was sound of screeching. The duo stopped and turned around to check what was causing the noise. "Oh shit..." Dark whispered in slight fear while witnessing the start of the stairs going back into the wall. "RUN!" He shouted, turned around and headed straight towards the door. The stairs were taking bit of speed on getting back to their place. Link was fully startled but he too turned around and ran after the darker Hylian.

The ex-shadow slammed against the door to open it faster. He didn't stop even for a second while running forward. The Hero was hot on his heels but he kept glancing once in a while towards the vanishing stairs. Link nearly stopped when he got through the door since the floor was nearly see-through and very high above the ground. Yet, he didn't have any other choice than to follow Dark. "I hope you know where we're going!" He half shouted.

"I have no idea but I think the way is right and going towards the main room of the Temple." Dark replied with slight shrug. Link sighed and shook his head. He glanced again behind and gulped when he saw that the border between the vanishing and solid blocks was starting to catch them.

"We're not going to make it unless we're going to run lot faster!" Link shouted and tried to speed up. The darker Hylian glanced backwards and gasped. The Hero heard him curse quietly. _"That didn't sound good..."_ He thought grimly.

"The next door's there!" The ex-shadow shouted suddenly quite eagerly. Link grinned slightly and nodded but his happiness was short lived when he checked the situation behind them. The blocks were vanishing quite fast and starting to catch the duo all over again.

Dark reached the door first. He slammed against the door to open it and was just going to continue his way when he heard a scream. The ex-shadow turned around in a flash. "_LINK!_" He shrieked and dashed straight towards the Hero.

The block had vanished right underneath Link. He screamed out while falling but he managed to take a grip of the next block. It was already starting to vanish but lot slower than before. "No! Don't come!" The Hero shouted when the darker Hylian was coming to his aid.

Dark ignored Link's command and managed to take a grip on Link's hand when part of the block vanished. The Hero gave out a short yelp before already staring fearfully at the darker Hylian. The ex-shadow held on quite tightly to Link's hand while slowly backing away from the vanishing block. "Dark... Just let go and get yourself to safer place..." The Hero nearly commanded.

Dark just shook his head while glancing towards the door. "We can make it, Link. Trust me." He replied while trying to stay in same pace with the vanishing of the blocks. Yet, it was quite clear that the block was vanishing faster than what he was able to move. The ex-shadow sighed sadly before already starting to swing the Hero.

"W-w-what are you doing?! Stop that!" Link shrieked in bewilderment but the darker Hylian just ignored him thoroughly. The Hero nearly screamed when Dark swung him above the block and straight to the door. It was just in time since the block vanished right after that.

Dark gasped and closed his eyes when he started to fall. He yelped in shock when he felt someone taking a grip on his wrist. The ex-shadow shot his eyes open and saw Link leaning backwards on the doorway while holding on to the doorframe with his free hand. The Hero grinned a bit while holding on to the darker Hylian as tightly as he could. "Returning the favor." He stated while slightly relaxing from the shock of the situation.

Dark sighed and nodded. "Can you get up?" Link questioned bit worriedly but relaxed slightly more when the darker Hylian nodded again. The ex-shadow took a bit better grip on the wall in front of him before pushing his knees against the wall and soon standing on it while his back faced the ground far below him.

"Don't let go..." Dark whispered bit fearfully while taking the first step forward. Link was bit startled about the darker Hylian's decision of the way of getting up but he was fast to react. The Hero leaned further backwards and placed his other foot to the edge while keeping tight grip on Dark. Bit fearfully he let go of the doorframe and brought his right hand to the ex-shadow's wrist too. While Dark walked up the wall, Link half pulled him upwards.

It took a while but soon the darker Hylian was on the doorway too. They leaned against the frame while catching their breath and trying to calm down. Link closed his eyes while Dark slowly sat down. "Thanks..." He whispered and raised his gaze up to the Hero.

Link chuckled but smiled and looked right back at him. "You saved my life so it is only fair that I return the favor." He replied with a grin. Dark nodded and smiled too while closing his eyes. "You okay?" The Hero questioned bit concerned.

"Yeah... Just bit out of breath, I think." The ex-shadow replied before taking once a deep breath and standing up. "You?" He continued carefully.

Link nodded. "No worries." The Hero replied and turned to check their way forward. He grinned when he realized where they had come to. "Seems like we reached our destination."

Dark turned his gaze forward too and nodded. "Yeah... Now we just gotta find a way down." He replied while looking at the main room of the Temple.

"Once we find the way down, we got two more flames to get." Link said nonchalantly. Dark sighed and turned his gaze to the Hero.

"Yeah, I know that. Plus I'm quite sure I know where we're heading next." He answered in slight mumble. The ex-shadow really hated to think about the next flame's place. Link sighed too and nodded sadly. Even he wasn't fully eager about the next flame. "You got the longer Hookshot, so check if you can get it hit into anywhere." Dark stated.

Link nodded and stood up too while taking out the Hookshot. He aimed it into the main room and started to go carefully through the close by trees. The small red dot didn't show up until at the last tree's branch. The Hero glanced at the darker Hylian who only nodded in response. Link nodded back and shot the device at the target.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And new questions for what the words mean:

1) **Syn**

2) **Velnias**

3) **Zradce**

Three nice words. You are free to use dictionaries in hopes of finding answers.

Also, what do you think about the **Shadowy Language**? Unique or something else?

Thanks! Answers to the words will be at next Saturday when I update again! =D

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A/N: And again a nice little cliffhanger. ^^; Also, this is so far the longest chapter! =D

So, review, please! =D Even anonymous ones are accepted but if you got a account in here or at DeviantArt, inform of the penname so I can leave a review reply! Otherwise the review reply will be on my profile page or in the next chapter! Thank You!

Also, flames are accepted but those shall be for Axel's entertainment or for Demyx's practice! =P

**Still in working:  
1) **Do a drawing from one of my stories and I'll write you a story OR I can give bit of _preview_ from upcoming chapters or next stories. =)  
**2)** Send questions to Dark and/or Link! Also, other characters will be answering if you want to send a question for them! =)


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